home care and psychosocial support for senior citizens

Situation

Lebanon is currently facing a severe financial and economic crisis, which is being exacerbated by the recent escalation in violence between the Hezbollah militia and the Israeli military. While a traditionally weak government and poor economic indicators have plagued the country for some time now, the situation has deteriorated dramatically since 2019. The Covid-19 pandemic and the Beirut port explosion in 2020 hit the country at an especially inopportune time. Lebanon hosts the largest number of refugees per capita in the world (25 per cent of the population). The Lebanese government estimates that there are 1.7 million refugees in the country – 1.5 million Syrians and 200,000 Palestinians.

According to the World Bank, more than half of the population lives below the poverty line. The Lebanon Crisis Response Plan sees 1.5 million Lebanese in need of external support (in addition to the 1.5 million Syrian and 200,000 Palestinian

Target group

The project is focusing on 750 senior citizens living in acute poverty. Lebanon has the highest proportion of senior citizens in the Middle East – 10 per cent of its 6.7 million inhabitants are over the age of 65. Most receive no pension and have no access to a retirement scheme or health insurance. The dramatic devaluation of the national currency has wiped out savings or forced people to spend what little they have on their basic needs. Senior citizens are increasingly resorting to negative coping mechanisms, such as skipping meals or doing without essential medication. Many suffer from chronic illnesses and rely on regular access to medication. There has been a sharp rise in post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression, substance abuse, suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts.

Measures

Senior citizens continue to be overlooked in many emergency and transitional aid projects. Against this backdrop, this project aims to address the aforementioned problems by providing basic medical care at home, offering psychosocial support and cleaning services and distributing hot meals.

The Redel Foundation is supporting the project with €80,000.

Impressions