Public Comment

We write to you today as former and current deans of the Faculty of Health Sciences at the American University of Beirut (AUB) in Lebanon, with a profound sense of urgency regarding the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Lebanon. As public health professionals, educators, and advocates for justice, we are all too familiar with the devastating effects of conflict on human lives and societal well-being. Lebanon now stands on the brink of a nationwide humanitarian catastrophe, and we urgently reach out to you– our colleagues, peers, and friends from academic Public Health institutions and health bodies worldwide. We need you to amplify our voice.  

Our region has long been plagued by violence. A brutal war on Gaza has been raging for one year, and now an extremely horrific situation is unfolding in Lebanon where new warfare and lethal surveillance strategies are employed. Entire families are being obliterated and homes destroyed leaving civilian populations terrorized, with land invasion and large-scale causalities and displacements looming all over Lebanon. On September 23, 2024 alone, Israeli indiscriminate air raids killed at least 492 people and wounded 1,645. Within a week, the toll had risen sharply, leaving many victims with long-term disabilities. These casualty figures and scenes of despair are not mere statistics; they are the very fabric of our society, innocent children buried under the rubble, families torn apart, and dreams shattered.  

The health system, already strained by years of economic crisis, is facing unprecedented pressure amid severe shortages of staff and medical supplies. Education is also under threat as the majority of the one million internally displaced people, representing one fifth of the total population, have taken refuge in schools repurposed as shelters.  

The World needs to wake up. The deafening silence of the global community is not merely deepening injustices; it is becoming itself the war that we must confront. The international community’s inaction in the face of these war atrocities is eroding faith in the global order and undermining the very institutions entrusted in safeguarding human rights, protecting civilians, and preventing the weaponization of healthcare and civilian war injuries. We cannot remain disengaged; silence is complicity, inaction is consent.  

We urge you to be our voice for peace, dignity, and for safeguarding people’s lives and health, and to demand an end to this war and every war.