Strengthening Child Protection Practices in Healthcare Institutions in Lebanon

Abstract

The K2P Policy Dialogue, conducted on February 23, 2018, hosted 31 diverse stakeholders from multi-disciplinary backgrounds. These included representatives from Ministry of Public Health, Ministry of Social Affairs, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Education, Internal security forces, Syndicate of hospitals, Syndicate of midwives, Order of nurses, National Primary Health Care Network, The Union for the Protection of Juveniles in Lebanon, Local and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) such as UNICEF, UNHCR, UNFPA, ABAAD, Himaya, Lebanese Red Cross, Physicians, researchers, and students. The policy dialogue was facilitated by Dr. Fadi El Jardali, the Director of the K2P Center, in the presence of Dr. Walid Ammar, the Director General of the MOPH. Dialogue participants discussed the overall framing of the problem of child protection practices in healthcare institutions in Lebanon and acknowledged the existence of the problem, although some efforts are undertaken internationally and in several ministries in Lebanon. All the participants agreed that child protection is a priority issue in Lebanon that needs to be addressed. The stakeholders focused on the importance of the inter-sectoral collaboration in Lebanon to address child protection issues, so as to share best practices, unify the data repository on violence, neglect, exploitation, and abuse against children and unify efforts.