There were mothers fearful about what the future would bring for their displaced families, students no longer able to attend school, and one woman who had already attempted suicide because she no longer saw hope ahead. The sound of drones flying above and the constant worry about the impacts of rockets and airstrikes have left people living in a permanent state of disarray.
Lebanon is still reeling from cycles of conflict and insecurity. Although a temporary ceasefire has been in place since April 17, repeated violations have continued to undermine any real sense of safety or stability for civilians. This temporary ceasefire followed renewed escalation in the wake of the Iran War, which has included Hezbollah rocket fire into Israel, and widespread Israeli airstrikes and displacement orders across large parts of Lebanon. Forcing more than one million civilians from their homes, and killing more than 2,800 people, according to Lebanese health authorities.
Already before the latest escalation, Lebanon’s mental healthcare system was stretched to its limits. Years of conflict, COVID, and the Beirut port explosion in 2020 resulted in Lebanon facing some of the highest rates of mental health conditions in the region. The International Rescue Committee (IRC) estimates that half of Lebanon’s population has screened positive for depression, anxiety, or post-traumatic stress disorder. However, there have long been huge gaps in mental health services to meet these challenges, and currently, there are believed to be just 70 psychiatrists left in Lebanon to serve the tremendous needs across the country. These challenges are the exact reason my own father, Akram, who left Lebanon for the U.S. in 1973, became a psychiatrist.
We must ensure that people in conflict zones are not abandoned at the exact moment psychological trauma becomes most acute. This is why the IRC supports Lebanon’s 24/7 suicide prevention hotline. And with over a million people now displaced, it is why the IRC has scaled up support for the hotline’s Mobile Crisis Team, which is dispatched to deliver urgent psychological care to people unable to access health facilities.
But the painful truth I saw first-hand in Lebanon is that while tools exist, they require sustained investment to save lives. Global humanitarian funding has fallen by roughly 40% year on year, and mental health remains one of the most underfunded areas of global humanitarian response, despite being a lifesaving investment. Too often, governments prioritize humanitarian action with immediate and visible outputs like food delivered, shelters built, and vaccines administered. Mental health outcomes are less visible, slower to emerge, and harder to quantify.
As in all humanitarian crises, children pay the highest cost. The situation in Lebanon is no different. At one shelter I visited, I met some of the country’s over 390,000 displaced children, including 13-year-old Bassem. He told me he wants to become an architect because his home in Lebanon was destroyed in a bombing. He proudly showed me a detailed drawing of the apartment building he had designed with the Lebanese flag flying on top.
He then looked up and said in Arabic, “I love Lebanon.” Bassem still has hope for the future. Now, children like him need the international community’s action. They deserve nothing less.
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