Lebanon holds the largest number of refugees per capita in the world. In addition to its complex humanitarian context, the country has undergone a series of intersecting crises at the political, economic and social level, compounded by the impact of the pandemic.
This research focused on a particularly vulnerable population group in Lebanon: older adult Syrian refugees. They are more likely to have underlying chronic conditions placing them at increased risk of developing severe illness if infected. In choosing to focus on older refugees, the research aimed to investigate the experiences of a marginalised group, design interventions to reduce their exclusion during a long-haul pandemic and improve the impact of awareness raising efforts. The longitudinal research also looked at evolving (preexisting) vulnerabilities while the pandemic unfolded in Lebanon.
The research was conducted together with the Faculty of Health Sciences at the American University of Beirut (AUB).
This work was supported by Elrha’s Research for Health in Humanitarian Crisis (R2HC) Programme, which aims to improve health outcomes by strengthening the evidence base for public health interventions in humanitarian crises. R2HC is funded by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), Wellcome, and the UK National Institute for Health Research (NIHR).
