North Lebanon
Lebanon (North) Life Center
WCF launched a Medical Life Center in northern Lebanon. WCF sponsors the cost for medical staff, pharmacy, and lab and medical equipment expenses.
What We Provide:
Local staff salaries to provide primary medical care services (e.g. perinatal, OB/GYN)
Subsidies for medication, specialist referrals, laboratory, ultrasound, and other services
Health care seminars and promotion for the community
Current Update
From inception, our Medical Life Center ("LC") in Beirut has had 7,497 patient visits and have subsidized 5,563 prescriptions and 2,178 lab and imaging referrals. The great majority of our patients have been Syrian refugees as well as Iraqi refugees and poorer Lebanese and migrant workers.
Our Mission
The WCF Life Center is a community medical center that provides affordable and subsidized primary medical care to war refugees and marginalized peoples in partnership with local ministries that share the same heart and mission.
Medical Services
Primary medical care – such as infectious disease treatment and chronic illness management
Specialized care and referrals: women's health issues, pediatrics, perinatal care, psychiatric
Subsidized medication, laboratory, ultrasound, and other services
Health care seminars and promotion for the community
Our Life Centers are all staffed with local professionals - OB/GYN, Family Doctors, Nephrologists, Social Workers and Nurses
The Background
Since the Syrian Civil War crisis began in 2011, an estimated 5.6 million of its residents fled to neighboring countries such as Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Iraq to live in refugee camps or informal settlements. Approximately 1.5 million refugees have settled in Lebanon alone, which only had 4 million people to begin with. In addition, many Iraqis fled their country into Lebanon since 2014 when ISIS began a brutal sectarian war that engulfed the country. The humanitarian and medical needs of the refugees have overwhelmed the already poor healthcare systems in these countries.
Throughout the war crisis, the levels of funding from international donors were below the amounts required to meet the health needs of the refugees. Primary care had been partly subsidized by various NGOs, but this funding steadily has decreased year by year as the crisis prolongs. Day by day, refugees are depleting their savings and the healthcare and overall humanitarian crisis increases by the day.
Since the beginning of our Life Centers, Lebanon faced a series of major crises. Lebanon is the 3rd most indebted country in the world and it was facing default in late 2019 when it was running out of foreign currency. The currency was drastically devalued and the banking system was nearly paralyzed. The country erupted in mass civil protests against the government’s poor handling of the crisis and the government was forced to resign.
Then the next crisis happened. In March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic led to lockdowns and restrictions which caused severe hardship for the entire country. Many medical clinics near our Beirut LC closed during the economic crisis so our LC was given special governmental permission to continue operating despite the lockdowns. The North Lebanon LC had to suspend operations for about 3 months until the local government gave special permission to re-open.
WCF History In The Region
World Compassion Fellowship has treated more than 28,000 patients in 16 countries in our Mobile Medical Clinics since 2007. The Clinics provide primary care, treatment for infectious diseases such as malaria, treatment for acute and chronic conditions, and other needed medical services. Our medical teams have also provided health care seminars and health promotion on relevant topics such as hygiene, nutrition, and wound care. WCF has organized Mobile Medical Clinics in response to the War Crisis since 2013, but it has been active in the Middle East since its inception in 2007.
