After operating a standalone clinic in Bourj El-Barajneh camp for ten years, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has concluded its provision of healthcare in the clinic by December 2025. During the years, medical activities took many shapes, focusing on sexual and reproductive healthcare, vaccinations for children, care for non-communicable diseases, and mental healthcare.
Located in southern Beirut, Bourj El-Barajneh camp was established for Palestinian refugees in 1948. Since then, and despite it being already densely populated, it has hosted Syrian refugees who fled the war that started in 2011, migrant workers who have limited resources, and many others who have nowhere else to go.
For the last four years of activities, Mohammad Hazineh welcomed patients into the clinic and directed them to the relevant department with a smile. He is originally a Palestinian refugee in Syria. In 2011, his house in Al-Yarmouk camp in Damascus was bombed, so he decided to move to Lebanon and chose Bourj El-Barajneh camp as his home.
Over the years, the clinic witnessed many tears: children in pain of jabs protecting them against a range of preventable diseases, and men who just needed someone to listen to them.
Smiles and laughter also filled the air: parents learned that their children’s non-communicable diseases are manageable, women found out they’re pregnant for the first time, and people were reminded that they are worthy. The clinic was a safe space where feelings were validated and differences were celebrated.
Mohammad Dabdoub is a Palestinian born and raised in Bourj El-Barajneh camp. He considers the camp to be a miniature of Palestine in diaspora. Through his nine-year journey with MSF, and his work as a liaison officer, he was the connection between MSF and the society in the camp. He raised awareness of MSF’s activities and established trust in the community.
“What I value the most is that our activities were never limited to the clinic,” he says. We managed to support organisations like the Civil Defense and The Palestinian Red Crescent Society, thus serving the community in the camp to the best of our abilities.”
The clinic closure comes as part of MSF’s strategy for the upcoming period of supporting existing health facilities providing similar services to the community. MSF aims to continue supporting the community in Bourj El-Barajneh camp.
“People in the camp needed medication just as much as they needed someone to stand by them,” says Mohammad Dabdoub. “Our activities went beyond medical action. They represented a decade of solidarity.”
Between 2020 and 2025, MSF provided in Bourj El-Barajneh clinic more than:
- 38,000 health promotion sessions
- 28,620 postnatal care consultations
- · 27,930 family planning consultations
- 23,590 acute disease consultations
- 22,770 non-communicable disease consultations
- 11,730 mental health consultations
- 9,840 antenatal care consultations
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Related:
- Conflict in Lebanon
- Lebanon
- MSF in Lebanon
