Half of Lebanon's children need humanitarian aid as Ukraine war adds to food woes: NGO

Half of Lebanon's children are in need of humanitarian aid, Save the Children has warned, as the war in Ukraine has caused already high food prices to rise further.

Thousands of children are at risk of malnutrition as families struggle to cover the cost of even the most basic foodstuffs, the NGO said on Thursday.

Food prices have risen globally since Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February, as both Russia and Ukraine are major suppliers of wheat, sunflower oil and other staples.

In Lebanon, the cost of bread has risen 38% since the invasion, while the price of sunflower oil has jumped by 88 percent, Save the Children said.

“The country faces an irreversible decline in living conditions for children and families that will take generations to recover from if we don’t act now," said Jennifer Moorehead, Save the Children’s Country Director in Lebanon.

A food crisis has been gripping Lebanon since 2019, when the country's economy crashed. The cost of food in Lebanon has surged 400% in a year, Save the Children said.

The financial turmoil was exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic and the Beirut port blast, as well as domestic political wrangling.

More than three-quarters of Lebanese households currently live in poverty.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced last week that it would provide Lebanon $3 billion to help it emerge from the economic crisis. 

UNICEF warned earlier this month that the rise in food prices due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine would put Lebanese children at risk of malnutrition.