HEALTHCARE STRUGGLES Access to healthcare is technically more challenging for stateless persons, but Lebanese in Akkar also struggle to access medical services; therefore, possessing citizenship does not necessarily facilitate access. This is mostly due to both groups’ limited financial capabilities. • Stateless people are evidently more affected on the healthcare front than Lebanese, since they can neither benefit from Social Security, nor from support from the Ministry of Public Health (used for specific emergency cases by Lebanese individuals). As such, they widely make use of dispensaries (79%), in similar proportions as Lebanese (80%). • Twenty seven percent of stateless have access to hospitals, mainly at their own expense (69%), despite their dire financial situation. Very few resort to fraud or wasta (nepotism). Fig 19. Rating of right to healthcare for stateless and Lebanese respondents 30% 26% 80% Lebanese in Akkar 28% 78% Stateless in Akkar 27% Through dispensaries 57% 45% 35% 27% Fig 20. How do you access healthcare? 22% Fig 21. How do you access hospitals? (158 respondents) Through Wasta 20% Using fake IDs My first most important right My second most important right Stateless in Akkar My third most important right One of my main daily worries Through hospitals On my own expense 9% 23% 69% Lebanese in Akkar © 2021 Siren Associates. All Rights Reserved.