After the boom in prices of medicines in Lebanon, baby milk follows the pattern.
There has not been an official announcement from the ministry of health to inform people of this drastic change.
Some believe that the Lebanese government fears the resentful reactions from the people and leaves the matter in the hands of the Central Bank of Lebanon (BDL), which decides the amount of financial support that should be provided to this sector.
Baby milk price is now another added burden to families in Lebanon, many of whom are already struggling to secure necessities.
A Lebanese woman who wished to remain unnamed told 961News: “My baby needs a tin of milk every other day. I don’t know how I’ll be able to afford it at this crazy price.”
One small tin of milk is now reportedly priced at over 100,000 Lebanese Lira.
Before the subsidy was lifted, shops and pharmacies were already facing a shortage of milk on their almost empty shelves.
People were too scared that prices would suddenly increase, so hoarding of milk tins was very common.
Lebanese pharmacist Lama Zahreddine told 961News: “The crisis had begun way before lifting subsidies on milk as people were panic buying and stockpiling milk at home, which had led to major shortages.”
Photo credit: Larissa Aoun
Some Lebanese abroad are working along with NGOs to assist by shipping containers of donations to families who can’t find the milk they urgently need for their babies.
Souad Abou Shakra, a Lebanese lawyer residing in Kuwait, told 961News: “When we knew about the crisis, I and my neighbors immediately decided to collect donations for a charity to distribute the items in Lebanon.”
“I had imagined that those kids could have been mine,” she added.
Ahead of her summer visit to her home country, Abou Shakra also sent a whole suitcase of baby milk to Lebanon to have it preserved for her 1-year-old daughter. She planned it as such so as not to find herself hopping from one shop to another to look for a tin of milk.
Some Lebanese individuals abroad have also independently organized a fundraising campaign to send large quantities of milk.
Roudaina Jdaidani, a social worker in Australia of Lebanese origin, held a campaign to send over $15,000 worth of baby milk to Lebanon, as she told 961News.
“I knew that the situation in Lebanon is escalating to the worse, and baby milk is in severe shortage or too expensive for some families to afford,” she said.
Photo credit: Roudaina Jdaidani
According to Jdaidani, the donated quantity was booked in less than a day by families who were desperate to feed their babies.
Her campaign was ongoing for three months and the shipment has recently arrived, just in the right time where milk prices have soared.
In the last few days, Jdaidani has received over 2000 messages from random people requesting milk.
Photo credit: Roudaina Jdaidani
