Hala Ghattas

Abstract

Scars from a protracted war, and the inevitable political instability following years of civil military conflict, have afflicted Lebanon for decades. Recent events—the economic crisis of 2019, the fatal explosion at Beirut's port in August, 2020, and the global pandemic—have deepened the country's already fragile predicament. On top of that, Lebanon hosts the most refugees per capita in the world, mostly from Syria and the “permanently temporary” Palestinian refugee community. Hala Ghattas (American University of Beirut [AUB], Lebanon) and her family live in Beirut, where she is a public health nutritionist. She was born there, emigrated to Australia as a child, and returned when the war was officially declared over. But the instability continued: “I was, I suppose, a child of war, and that has determined my interests, how I look at these kinds of crises and how they influence health”, she says. Double burden of malnutrition in children and adolescents in the Arab regionAmid the social and political challenges faced by the Arab region in recent decades, a rapid nutrition transition has also been evolving. With accelerated urbanisation and food system transitions, the region has consistently witnessed increases in the numbers of people who are overweight and obese, including among children and adolescents. At the same time, child stunting and acute malnutrition burdens linger inequitably across the region and remain particularly high in populations affected by conflict. Full-Text PDF