Beirut/New York, 4 March 2026 – The lives of women and girls in Lebanon have been upended as the country faces an escalation of violence. The recent wave of intensive airstrikes on Beirut, South Lebanon, and the Bekaa Valley has forced 83,800 people from their homes since 2 March, with 970 pregnant women among them.
They add to the 65,000 people who remain internally displaced from the 2024 conflict. The latest conflict follows an earlier escalation in 2024 which caused death, injury, mass displacement, and decimated civilian infrastructure.
Displacement significantly heightens the health and protection risks of vulnerable groups, with pregnant women, girls, and people living with disabilities particularly at risk.
“The needs of women and girls do not pause during conflict: women still give birth, even under fire, and they face heightened risks of gender-based violence,” said UNFPA Lebanon Country Representative, Anandita Philipose. “We call for urgent action to safeguard women and girls’ health and protection in this crisis and to meet their critical needs.”
Disruptions to reproductive health services increase the risk of unintended pregnancies, and for pregnant women fleeing violence, childbirth itself can become a life-threatening emergency. Most families fled with little to no notice, spending hours trapped along congested roads. At least one report has emerged of a woman forced to give birth on the street while fleeing her home.
Public schools have been rapidly converted into collective shelters, and are already overcrowded, lacking adequate sanitation, lighting or privacy. The absence of gender-segregated sanitation facilities heightens the risk of violence for women and girls and severely limits their mobility.
The renewed hostilities are placing an overwhelming strain on Lebanon’s already fragile health and protection systems. Half of the UNFPA-supported facilities in conflict-affected areas have been forced to shutter, and many that remain are understaffed as health workers themselves have fled.
UNFPA is scaling up its maternal health and protection services in response to the surge in needs. UNFPA is supporting safe deliveries including emergency obstetric care in primary healthcare centres, and is working in coordination with government partners, to deploy mobile medical units in and around Beirut and Mount Lebanon to serve displaced and host communities. UNFPA is also providing gender-based violence services to women and girls in need, including the clinical management of rape and psychosocial support. Distributions of 17,000 dignity kits are ongoing, while reproductive health supplies and equipment are being procured. However, UNFPA’s response is constrained by severe underfunding with its $30 million appeal for 2026 only 16 per cent funded to date.
UNFPA joins the international community in calling for diplomacy to prevail, and for the urgent protection of civilians – including humanitarian workers and medical personnel – to be upheld, in line with international humanitarian law. Health workers, including midwives, must be enabled to safely access people in need and carry out their lifesaving work without fear of attack.
About UNFPA:
UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, is the sexual and reproductive health agency of the UN. It works to uphold the rights and choices of women, girls and young people across more than 150 countries. Our aim is to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe, and every young person can fulfil their potential.