Network for research on death, dying and end of life care among Syrian refugees in Lebanon

叙利亚内战造成了历史上最严重的人道主义危机之一。大约500万叙利亚人逃离本国，以逃避冲突造成的长期恐怖和暴力，其中100多万人在黎巴嫩。每天有4000多名难民进入黎巴嫩，使其本已脆弱的社会、政治和经济基础设施不堪重负。抵达黎巴嫩后，叙利亚难民面临着新的麻烦，他们现在必须忍受临时营地的痛苦和艰辛。这种难民流动给黎巴嫩政府和当地社区的资源和能力带来了巨大压力。黎巴嫩卫生系统面临大量额外需求的涌入，正在努力科普。问题的一个特殊方面是老年难民的痛苦。老年难民往往处于社会底层，他们的需求经常被忽视、不被承认或忽视。然而，已知这些老年人中约有一半患有慢性健康问题，并因缺乏医疗保健而面临死亡风险。其他人患有晚期疾病，需要姑息治疗来控制疼痛和其他症状。人们对如何解决这些治疗和临终关怀需求知之甚少。虽然黎巴嫩有一些姑息治疗服务，但它们资源有限，没有能力满足难民营的需求。然而，姑息治疗的提供和获得已被确认为基本人权。因此，该项目的主要目的是：（1）加强研究能力，调查难民的临终关怀问题和需求;（2）加强黎巴嫩和联合王国研究人员之间的相关合作与协调，以建设开展高质量新研究和干预措施的能力，解决这些问题。为了建立这样一个网络，该项目将汇集各种专门知识，举办以黎巴嫩难民临终关怀为重点的特别讲习班。它将对这些问题进行快速评估，并探讨如何制定研究对策。它将向当地研究人员提供国际专家的指导和培训，以建立专门知识和能力。还将制作一部关于这一问题的短片，以提高认识和其他人对这一问题的敏感性。通过这些手段，该网络将促进研究、政策和计划的发展，以促进对黎巴嫩境内叙利亚难民的临终关怀。所吸取的经验教训将反过来适用于其他地方的其他类似人道主义紧急情况。

The Syrian Civil War has created one of the worst humanitarian crises in history. Around 5 million Syrians have fled their country to escape the prolonged horror and violence of the conflict and more than one million of them are in Lebanon. Over 4000 refugees cross into Lebanon on a daily basis, overwhelming its already fragile social, political, and economic infrastructure. On reaching Lebanon, new troubles confront the Syrian refugees who must now endure the suffering and hardships of the temporary camps. This refugee movement has put a huge strain on the resources and capacity of the Lebanese government and local communities. The Lebanese health system has seen a massive influx of additional demand and is struggling to cope. One particular aspect of the problem is the suffering of older refugees. Often at the bottom of the pecking order, the needs of older refugees are frequently neglected, unrecognised or ignored. Yet about a half of these older people are known to have chronic health problems and are at risk of dying through lack of access to healthcare. Others have advanced disease and require palliative treatments to manage pain and other symptoms. Very little is known about how these treatment and end of life care needs are being addressed. Although some palliative care services exist in Lebanon they have limited resources and lack the capacity to deal with the level of need in the refugee camps. Yet palliative care availability and access have been acknowledged as fundamental human rights. The main purposes of the project are therefore: 1) to strengthen research capacity to investigate end of life care issues and needs among refugees 2) to enhance related cooperation and coordination between researchers in Lebanon and the UK in order to build capacity for high quality new studies and interventions that can address these problems. To foster such a network, the project will bring together a mixture of expertise in special workshops focussed on end of life care for refugees in Lebanon. It will conduct a rapid appraisal of the issues and look at ways to develop research responses. It will provide mentoring and training to local researchers from international experts in order to build expertise and capacity. It will also lead to a short film on the issue to raise awareness and sensitize others to the issue. By these means the network will contribute to the development of research, policies and plans to promote end of life care for Syrian refugees in Lebanon. The lessons learned will in turn be relevant to other similar humanitarian emergencies elsewhere.