The U.S. Embassy issued a statement today, Wednesday, saying: "The United States Government, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), is providing more than $67 million in additional emergency humanitarian assistance for vulnerable populations in Lebanon. This raises the total humanitarian assistance provided by USAID to Lebanon to over $157 million since the beginning of the fiscal year 2023."
It stated: "The prolonged economic, financial, and humanitarian crises in Lebanon have led to severe levels of food insecurity and critical healthcare needs nationwide. The causes of these needs include soaring inflation in food, fuel, and basic commodity prices, the loss of livelihoods, and the departure of medical staff. The regional impact of the ongoing Gaza crisis has exacerbated humanitarian needs in Lebanon. The insecurity in southern Lebanon has prompted USAID partners to mobilize available resources to address the emergency humanitarian assistance needs of over 91,000 individuals internally displaced since October 2023."
It added: "This newly announced funding will enable USAID partners to continue providing life-saving assistance, including emergency food aid, nutritional support, emergency healthcare, humanitarian protection, psychosocial support, and water, sanitation, and hygiene services. This additional humanitarian assistance will enable our partner, the UN World Food Programme, to maintain monthly food assistance for vulnerable communities in Lebanon during a time of dwindling resources and ongoing needs among the most vulnerable groups. This funding has allowed the World Food Programme to sustain the flow of vital assistance for several months, reaching over 500,000 individuals, including more than 200,000 Lebanese citizens. Through this assistance, USAID partners—International Medical Corps and International Rescue Committee—will continue to support over 141,000 individuals through 13 primary healthcare clinics across Lebanon and provide home healthcare for patients unable to access clinics."
It indicated that "the United States will remain committed to providing essential humanitarian assistance to those in need throughout Lebanon. However, escalating needs exceed the available resources to meet them. While USAID support has been effective in saving lives and alleviating suffering among the most vulnerable, including providing over $202 million to the World Food Programme for food assistance to vulnerable Lebanese and Syrian refugee populations in 2022 and 2023 alone, humanitarian conditions may continue to deteriorate. In the future, the capacity of relief agencies to support the current number of beneficiaries will decline without additional funding."
It urgently called on other donors to join in intensifying efforts to meet these urgent needs, preventing further deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Lebanon.
