Bridging the Gap Between Community-led Initiatives and Humanitarian Agencies to Meet Refugees’ Health Needs in Lebanon: A Feasibility Study (360G-Wellcome-205525_Z_16_Z)

Seed funding is requested to conduct a feasibility study that will explore to what extent humanitarian agencies can build on initiatives led by refugee health professionals to pilot public health interventions for refugees (registered and unregistred) in Lebanon. The process by which displaced health professionals provide health services to refugee communities is poorly documented and understood. Our main goals are to identify initiatives led by Syrian displaced health professionals to meet refugees' health needs in Lebanon, and determine whether identified initiatives could benefit from international support to implement public health interventions. We will conduct an ethnographic study in the Bekaa Valley which is the home of the vast majority of Syrian refugees in Lebanon to gain a better understanding of the grassroots response led by Syrian health providers, along with a clearer appreciation of its structure and financing. We will also explore interactions between Syrian health providers and other agencies and organisations. Our findings will contribute to current humanitarian debates and will be used to inform a large-scale collaborative research proposal.