2013-09-23 12:50:32
(Vatican Radio) As refugees continue to flee from Syria into Lebanon and other neighbouring countries, aid agencies and organisations on the ground are working hard to deliver medical assistance and humanitarian support.
The Sovereign Order of Malta is among the organisations working in Lebanon, where it runs medical centres open both to local residents and to refugees. It works closely with the Imam al Sadr Foundation in Lebanon, to provide humanitarian aid through interreligious collaboration. It also works closely with the International Blue Crescent Foundation in Syria, to deliver emergency aid in Damascus and Aleppo.
Giulia Cirillo spoke to Marianna Balfour, Press Officer of the Sovereign Order of Malta, about her recent visit to the Khaldieh medical centre, on the border between Lebanon and Syria.
Listen to Giulia Cirillo’s interview with Marianna Balfour:
“The humanitarian emergency has increased immensely over the last few months, in particular because there are some new epidemies, due to the terrible hygienic conditions in which the refugees live. […] The Khaldieh centre is in northern Lebanon, it’s approximately 30/40kms away from the border with Syria. The kind of assistance it offers ranges from cardiology to gynecology, endocrinology, and so forth. […] It’s a very remote area, it’s a very rural area with very few services. The Sovereign Order of Malta with this Khaldieh centre carries out a very important task because it also carries out, for example, vaccination campaigns. […] It distributes sanitary kits, so shampoo, detergents, nappies for children, obviously water for powder milk – a lot of women have very small children, and because they’re undernourished they can’t feed them personally, so they have to give them processed milk.”
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