Photo Exhibition in Beirut Highlights ‘Importance of Community Health’

From left to right: Sara Campinoti, Programme Manager Migration-Health; Rein Nieland, Head of Section for Governance, Security and Human Rights, European Union Delegation in Lebanon; Nathalie Abboud, Head of the Department of Development Services and Personnel, Lebanese Ministry of Social Affairs; and Steffen Horstmeier, Medair Lebanon Director

Medair, the European Delegation in Lebanon, and the Lebanese Ministry of Social Affairs celebrated the opening of the photo exhibition, ‘Healthy Family, Peaceful House,’ in Beirut, Lebanon. The Healthy Family, Peaceful House project provides community health and psychosocial support to Syrian refugee families and vulnerable Lebanese families living in the Bekaa Valley. The photo exhibition highlighted the resilience of Syrian refugees and their host communities. The project is funded by the EU Regional Trust Fund in Response to the Syrian Crisis, the European Union ‘Madad’ Fund.

“The project highlights the need for quality community health care and the exhibition provides a great and innovative vehicle to show the quality work that has been done in partnership with the Ministry of Social Affairs and through the funding of the EU Madad Trust Fund,” said Steffen Horstmeier, Medair Lebanon Director.

Medair’s Steffen Horstmeier speaks during the opening of the exhibition.

Alongside the Lebanese Ministry of Social Affairs and the European Union Delegation in Lebanon, several international and national organisations, artists, and civil activists celebrated this event with Medair.

Ministry representative Nathalie Abboud, Head of the Department of Development Services and Personnel at the Lebanese Ministry of Social Affairs, expressed the ministry’s appreciation for the activities that Medair and the European Union ‘Madad’ Fund are running at several social development centres (SDCs) in the Bekaa Valley.

Nathalie Abboud speaks to the attendees, while Farah Darwiche, Medair Health Manager, translates.

“Our partnership with Medair and the European Union ‘Madad’ Fund improved exponentially the services available at our social development centres and health clinics,” said Abboud. “Quality primary and secondary health care services are now available and affordable for all people; clinics are equipped with essential tools and machinery; procedures and patient data are now digitised and organised effectively; and the staff are being well-trained to serve a wider population,” she continued.

Abboud highlighted the importance of the awareness sessions conducted by Medair to help people explore and learn about how to have healthy family relationships — sessions that are consequently “restoring life to the social development centres that have been forgotten in the past.”

Wrapping up her remarks, Abboud thanked Medair and the European Union, in the name of the Minister of Social Affairs, for supporting the health sector so significantly. “Our special thanks to the field teams, who really show unconditional engagement with the community in need. We owe you all the respect,” said Abboud.

From their side, the European Union, represented by Rein Nieland, Head of Section for Governance, Security and Human Rights at the European Union Delegation in Lebanon, conveyed their gratitude in seeing the impact of Medair’s health activities depicted through art. “These photos give the real picture of what we are doing in the Bekaa Valley to support health care for ALL people in need in Lebanon,” said Nieland. “The photos put the people whom we serve at the centre; their needs, but also their human dignity.”

Rein Neiland speaks on behalf of the European Union.

Nieland referred to the photographs as telling “a story of encounter and exchange,” in which health centres become a place where people meet and can access services, regardless of who they are and where they are from.

Nieland emphasised that the commission of the European Union is focusing its efforts on providing comprehensive health support to address psychosocial well-being for all. For this reason, the European Union has been contributing heavily to the health sector in Lebanon and in the region since the beginning of the Syrian crisis.

Since 2014, the European Union has invested over €173 million to support health care systems strengthening in Lebanon.  The EU is the largest donor to the health sector in Lebanon, supporting primary and secondary health care in more than 200 SDCs and in public hospitals, offering free medicines, routine vaccines for children, and affordable health care consultations.

After the prepared remarks, attendees viewed the 35 photographs by professional photographer Natheer Halawani. Halawani’s photographs document moments in the lives of the people Medair serves. The participants had the chance to also see four of the cartoon educational stories which Medair designed and uses during group sessions with vulnerable Lebanese and Syrian families. These interactive learning tools help people learn about reproductive health, newborn and child health, mental and psychosocial well-being, and the shared responsibility of women and men in a peaceful home and a healthy family. The stories were professionally illustrated by artist Kamal Hakim.

The exhibition was open to the public for two additional days during which Medair took the opportunity to invite participation in the exhibition by a wider community of people in Beirut.

Through the European Union ‘Madad’ Fund, Medair implements health activities that strengthen family and community bonds, build the capacity of local health facility staff, and improve the psychosocial health for people in need.