The Shatila refugee camp was set up by the International Committee of the Red Cross in 1949 (officialised in 1954) as a temporary space for the hundreds of Palestinian refugees who fled from the north of historic Palestine during the period known as the “nakba” in 1947-1948. The people remained there ever since, generation after generation. Shatila has transformed from a collection of temporary tents to a poor, run-down neighbourhood, located today just four kilometres from the Beirut downtown area.
One of the most tragic episodes for the camp occurred during the Lebanese civil war in September 1982, the now infamous Sabra-Shatila massacre, which lasted several days and resulted in the deaths of an estimated 3000 people.
Since the Syrian crisis began in 2011, a large number of Syrian refugees and Palestinian-Syrians have arrived to Shatila. Moreover, the camp also became a home for poor, vulnerable Lebanese and other nationalities.
Prior to the influx of refugees to the camp, the population was estimated between 7,000 to 15,000 people. Now the estimates are around 30,000 people. Around a quarter of the population are Palestinians, more than half are Syrians, while the rest are Lebanese and various other nationalities. All of them are cramped within a half square kilometre.
Shatila was and continues to be considered one of the most densely populated spaces in the world.
Living conditions are extremely bad, with poor water & sanitation, regular power cuts, and very limited access to the few services that are provided locally by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and various NGOs.
MSF began work in Shatila in September 2013. The international humanitarian and medical organization currently offers free of charge medical services in Shatila via a primary health care clinic and a women’s health centre to address the needs of vulnerable populations in the south of Beirut. The majority of patients are Syrian refugees and Palestinian refugees from Syria.
A total of 6,000 to 8,000 consultations per month are managed by MSF staff, with the majority related to paediatric patients, followed by non-communicable diseases (hypertension, diabetes, etc.), while the women’s health center (WHC) does around 280 deliveries per month.