MENA During COVID-19 Times – Lebanon

Date and time: Wednesday, July 1, 2020, 4 to 5 pm Central European Summer Time (UTC+2)

Tickets (€22.85 +€1.90 Fee +€5.20 BTW) here.

Micro-learning course about the impact of COVID-19 in Lebanon

During these exceptional times, it can be difficult to stay on top of developments in fragile countries in the MENA region, while it remains crucial to be well informed and to plan for sustainable and necessary interventions. With this in mind, the Greater Middle East Platform -an expert network from the Netherlands with excellent connections to the region- organizes a micro-course on the specific situation in various countries during the pandemic.

Lebanon has had about 1,300 confirmed COVID-19 cases with 30 deaths. The first cases reportedly came from Iranian travelers in late February, and the airport and seaports were closed on March 15 along with a declaration of a state of medical emergency. For the refugee population, the lockdown has meant the loss of daily wages and jobs, with an inability to do physical distancing given living conditions. Starvation is a greater fear than the virus and there have been very few COVID-19 reported cases among the refugee community.

About the speaker: Rudayna Abdo is an expert at envisioning, managing, and tailoring solutions to challenging housing, land use, and urban transportation issues across diverse urban geographies including the Gulf region. In 2015 she founded Thaki, a social impact organization that brings e-learning and digital literacy to refugee and vulnerable children in the Middle East with a focus on Lebanon.