Media Home
UN Web TV
UN Audiovisual Library
UN PhotoUN / LEBANON PRESSER
STORY: UN / LEBANON PRESSER
TRT: 07:30
SOURCE: UNIFEED / UNFPA
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT UNFPA FOOTAGE ON SCREEN
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 02 JUNE 2026, NEW YORK CITY / 20 - 21 MAY 2026, BEIRUT, LEBANON / FILE
FILE - NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, UN Headquarters
02 JUNE 2026, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, speakers, journalists, press room
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Anandita Philipose, Representative in Lebanon, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA):
“It is a time of deep fear, uncertainty and escalation in Lebanon. Despite the ceasefire that's in place, the hostilities have not stopped. People across Lebanon, particularly women and girls, are facing appalling levels of violence, displacement and human loss. Just yesterday, the forced evacuation orders in Beirut and the intense attacks in Southern Lebanon added to the vast scale and the level of uncertainty that is creating panic and distress. And it's pushing countless families to make very difficult decisions and choices in their search for safety.”
3. Wide shot, speakers, journalists
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Anandita Philipose, Representative in Lebanon, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA):
“Just over the weekend, airstrikes damaged a UNFPA-supported primary healthcare center and women and girls’ safe space in South Lebanon, one of the very few facilities that had continued to be operational and provide life-saving support in that region. In another airstrike on southern Lebanon, there was damage to a public hospital that has maternal health services - It's one of three hospitals that provide these kinds of services in southern Lebanon.”
5. Wide shot, speakers, journalists
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Anandita Philipose, Representative in Lebanon, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA):
“There’re 13,500 pregnant women among those displaced - 1,500 expected to give birth in the next 30 days. That means while we are sitting here today, 15 women may have gone into labor in situations of displacement across country in a very difficult situation. An estimated 1,500 women remain trapped in southern Lebanon without access to skill care and safe delivery spaces.”
7. Wide shot, speakers, journalists
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Anandita Philipose, Representative in Lebanon, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA):
“It is important to highlight that what we have now in Lebanon is a health and protection crisis. It is also increasingly protracted crisis. Despite the ceasefire and the adoption of the World Health Assembly resolution on 21st May calling for the protection of healthcare in Lebanon, attacks have continued. Since the 2nd of March, according to WHO, there'd been more than 190 attacks on healthcare that have resulted in the deaths of 120 healthcare workers and 332 injuries. These attacks shatter the continuum of care, and they also create fear among people. We are deeply worried that women and girls will not seek out life-saving services because they know that health care is under attack.”
9. Wide shot, speakers, journalists
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Anandita Philipose, Representative in Lebanon, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA):
“UNFPA will be launching an extended flash appeal in line with the rest of the UN system on Friday as well, bringing our total funding ask to 25 million USD for the response. It's very modest, but an extremely critical lifesaving ask. Without this immediate and sustained funding, thousands of pregnant women will lose access to skilled birth attendants and services. Our mobile medical clinics will be forced to stop serving remote areas. Scaling down our operations means cutting off more than 75,000 women from critical gender-based violence protection, case management, and safe spaces at the exact moment that they need them most.”
11. Wide shot, speakers, journalists
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Anandita Philipose, Representative in Lebanon, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA):
“Women and girls are not an afterthought. They must remain at the very heart of our collective humanitarian response.”
13. Wide shot, speakers, journalists
UNFPA - MAY 20 2026, LEBANESE UNIVERSITY, FACULTY OF PEDAGOGY, BEIRUT, LEBANON
14. Various shots, displaced children and people, courtyard
15. Various shots, workers build wood frames for shelter
16. Wide shot, temporary toilet
17. Med shot, University building
18. Med shot, workers assemble trash bins
19. Wide shot, children in courtyard
20. Wide shot, UNFPA Deputy Executive Director for Management Andrew Saberton, and UNFPA Representative in Lebanon Anandita Philipose visits shelter
21. Med shot, Saberton and Philipose meet with shelter staff
22. Med shot, children in the courtyard
23. Close up, a child getting water from water tank
24. Med shot, Saberton, Philipose
25. Various shots, piles of clothes and personal belongings stored on school desk
26. Various shots, woman carrying baby
27. Various shots, UNFPA staff meet with women residing in shelter
28. Med shot, milk bottle on school desk
29. Med shot, woman carrying baby
30. Close up, baby
31. Various shots, UNFPA staff meet with women residing in shelter
32. Wide shot, kids playing in hallway
UNFPA - MAY 20 2026, THE DEKWANE TECHNICAL INSTITUTE, BEIRUT, LEBANON
33. Various shots, staff, shelter, tents, boy studying
34. Various shots, mobile clinic
35. Various shots, Saberton, Philipose, shelter
UNFPA - MAY 21 2026, MINISTRY OF PUBLIC HEALTH'S CENTRAL DRUG AND SUPPLIES WAREHOUSE, KARANTINE, BEIRUT, LEBANON
36. Various shots, UNFPA supplies and emergency reproductive health kits, warehouse
United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Representative in Lebanon Anandita Philipose said, “We are deeply worried that women and girls will not seek out life-saving services because they know that health care is under attack.”
Addressing the press today (2 Jun) from Beirut on situation in the country, Philipose said, “It is a time of deep fear, uncertainty and escalation in Lebanon. Despite the ceasefire that's in place, the hostilities have not stopped. People across Lebanon, particularly women and girls, are facing appalling levels of violence, displacement and human loss. Just yesterday, the forced evacuation orders in Beirut and the intense attacks in Southern Lebanon added to the vast scale and the level of uncertainty that is creating panic and distress. And it's pushing countless families to make very difficult decisions and choices in their search for safety.”
She continued, “Just over the weekend, airstrikes damaged a UNFPA-supported primary healthcare center and women and girls’ safe space in South Lebanon, one of the very few facilities that had continued to be operational and provide life-saving support in that region. In another airstrike on southern Lebanon, there was damage to a public hospital that has maternal health services - It's one of three hospitals that provide these kinds of services in southern Lebanon.”
She reported, “There’re 13,500 pregnant women among those displaced - 1,500 expected to give birth in the next 30 days. That means while we are sitting here today, 15 women may have gone into labor in situations of displacement across country in a very difficult situation. An estimated 1,500 women remain trapped in southern Lebanon without access to skill care and safe delivery spaces.”
She highlighted, “what we have now in Lebanon is a health and protection crisis. It is also increasingly protracted crisis. Despite the ceasefire and the adoption of the World Health Assembly resolution on 21st May calling for the protection of healthcare in Lebanon, attacks have continued. Since the 2nd of March, according to WHO, there'd been more than 190 attacks on healthcare that have resulted in the deaths of 120 healthcare workers and 332 injuries. These attacks shatter the continuum of care, and they also create fear among people. We are deeply worried that women and girls will not seek out life-saving services because they know that health care is under attack.”
She also said, “UNFPA will be launching an extended flash appeal in line with the rest of the UN system on Friday as well, bringing our total funding ask to 25 million USD for the response. It's very modest, but an extremely critical lifesaving ask. Without this immediate and sustained funding, thousands of pregnant women will lose access to skilled birth attendants and services. Our mobile medical clinics will be forced to stop serving remote areas. Scaling down our operations means cutting off more than 75,000 women from critical gender-based violence protection, case management, and safe spaces at the exact moment that they need them most.”
She stated, “Women and girls are not an afterthought. They must remain at the very heart of our collective humanitarian response.”
