Via The Daily Star: Tuberculosis found among Syrian refugees in Lebanon. Excerpt:
BEIRUT: Several cases of tuberculosis have been discovered among Syrian refugees in Lebanon, Health Minister Ali Hasan Khalil said Monday.
“We have discovered a number of tuberculosis cases that not only could spread among Syrian refugees but to Lebanese communities accommodating Syrian refugees,” Khalil told a meeting of donor countries at the Grand Serail.
At the same meeting Social Affairs Minister Wael Abu Faour said over 22 buses carrying Palestinians arrived in Lebanon after a Palestinian refugee camp in the Syrian capital Damascus has been reportedly attacked by war planes Sunday.
“More than 22 buses carrying Palestinian refugees from the Yarmouk camp in Syria arrived in Lebanon Sunday after the refugee camp was bombed,” said Abu Faour.
The area of Yarmouk is home to a Palestinian camp, as well as Syrians displaced from the fighting. The refugees entered Lebanon Sunday through the Masnaa border crossing.
Monday’s meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Najib Mikati and attended by Lebanese ministers, EU and U.N. representatives and ambassadors of 25 states.
The Lebanese government recently launched a $178 million Syrian refugee response plan, developed to provide for 130,000 refugees, although the total of those registered or waiting to register has already reached nearly 158,000, and the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees registers around 1,500 new refugees a day.
Local charities and activists say many more refugees are coming into the country daily, but only a portion have sought the help of the U.N. and are included in the count.
