The association between living conditions and health among Syrian refugee children in informal tented settlements in Lebanon
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Author(s)
Habib, Rima R
Ziadee, Micheline
Abi Younes, Elio
El Asmar, Khalil
Jawad, Mohammed
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
BACKGROUND: This cross-sectional study explores the relationship between housing, social wellbeing, access to services and health among a population of Syrian refugee children in Lebanon. METHODS: We surveyed 1902 Syrian refugee households living in informal tented settlements in Lebanon in 2017. Logistic regressions assessed relationships between housing problems, socioeconomic deprivation, social environment and health. RESULTS: Of the 8284 children in the study, 33.0% had at least one health problem. A considerable number of households (43.1%) had > 8 housing problems. Children in these households had higher odds to have three or more health problems compared to children in households with < 6 housing problems (adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 2.39; confidence interval [CI], 1.50-3.81). Nearly three-quarters (74.3%) of households were severely food insecure. Children in these households had higher odds to have one health problem than those in food secure households (AOR, 1.75; CI, 1.11-2.76). There was a significant positive association between households that reported being unhappy with their neighbourhood and the number of children with health problems in those households. CONCLUSIONS: This study highlights the association between the physical and social living conditions and refugee children's health. Without multidimensional interventions that consider improvements to living conditions, the health of young Syrian refugees will continue to worsen.
Date Issued
2020-09-01
Date Acceptance
2019-08-07
Citation
Journal of Public Health (Oxford), 2020, 42 (3), pp.e323-e333
ISSN
1741-3842
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Start Page
e323
End Page
e333
Journal / Book Title
Journal of Public Health (Oxford)
Volume
42
Issue
3
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Faculty of Public Health. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Identifier
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31665367
PII: 5585858
Subjects
housing
public health
refugees
Publication Status
Published
Coverage Spatial
England
Date Publish Online
2019-10-24