Youth are always a focal point in the policies, activities, and daily practices of the Lebanese Organization of Studies and Training (LOST). This is the message being conveyed by the latest of LOST’s initiatives, “Young Leaders,” in which 10 dispensaries are on the way to be distributed in 10 different localities in Baalbeck-Hermel region based on the regions’ needs and the recommendations of youth in partnership with UNICEF and The Ministry of Public Health in Lebanon (MPH).
After reciting the Lebanese national anthem, Dr. Ramy Lakkis, LOST’s founder, gave a speech in which he pointed at the Young Leaders initiative as a key contribution to the local development coordinated with municipalities and carried out by young hands. He said, “It will be youth who contact Lebanese citizens and Syrian refugees to inform them about the services being offered in the dispensaries and the proper procedures to benefit from them.”
The governor of Baalbeck-Hermel, Bashir Khodor, expressed his extreme happiness upon knowing about the initiative, and he considered it a promising act of securing the basic right of medical care for Lebanese and Syrians in Baalbeck-Hermel.
Then there was a speech for Ms. Berta Travieso, UNICEF coordinator in Zahle Office, who underscored the fact that “young people constitute 30% of the total population” in Lebanon. She reassured UNICEF’s mandate in reducing the “vulnerabilities and discrimination that young people face” via promoting their role in the society as key contributors into its development.
The Lebanese Ministry of Health, represented by Mrs. Safa Sleiman, spoke at length about the different ways the ministry is supporting local actors, medical bodies, and activists to render the society medically covered. She also offered all possible kinds of support to turn simple dispensaries into medical care centers to lessen the pressure on hospitals and to make urgent medical aid accessible.
The new partnership being created between MOH, UNICEF, and LOST aims at alleviating Lebanese and Syrian people’s suffering in Baalbeck-Hermel and achieving medical welfare for the residents in the region.
