The most common diseases among Syrian and Palestinian refugees to Lebanon: infections versus PTSD and chronic stress related disease

Syrian and Palestinian immigrants and refugees have arrived in Lebanon from diverse social, economic, educational, cultural and religious backgrounds for a variety of reasons: to seek work, education, economic advantage; to flee war, political upheaval or persecution; to join families from which they have been separated. Many of them have arrived with inadequate resources and suffer social exclusion and inequality of healthcare access. The acute phase following immigration, particularly from the war zones is the time when health can be neglected. Many come from healthcare systems that differ from traditional Western medicine; often may involve traditional remedies; health prevention is not part of daily life due to several reasons among immigrating families.