HEALTH

In Good Health, Thrives Art

Mar, 2024

With access to chronic heart medication from CARMAH, Hussein can play music and make art again.

Hussein, a professional musician, greets us with a serene classical melody from his weathered violin. The music embodies both his artistic spirit and his journey of struggle against illness.

Hussein’s story intertwines with the Critical Access for Refugees to Medicine and Health Services (CARMAH) project, which serves vulnerable refugee and Lebanese populations. One of Anera’s biggest projects in Lebanon, CARMAH is responding to the nation's medical and pharmaceutical crisis by providing crucial chronic illness medications free of charge on a monthly basis.

Serving as a vital lifeline for those most affected by the country's socio-economic challenges, CARMAH has partnerships with more than 50 local primary health centers from all across Lebanon that act as dispensaries for patients. The CARMAH project is made possible thanks to funding provided by the United States Government.

Hussein is a cardiac and diabetic patient who lives in Bebnine, Akkar, an area that is often overlooked and marginalized.

Hussein is an artist — a professional musician who plays the violin beautifully; makes colorful, eco-friendly art projects using upcycled styrofoam; and enjoys making other people happy through his work.

“Sometimes,” Hussein says, “when I’m working outside my house on a Styrofoam artwork, a child passes by and compliments what they see, so I give it to them.”

A man stands inside his artist studio surrounded from floor to ceiling by fragments of styrofoam sculpture.

Hussein inside his art studio in Bebnine, Akkar, Lebanon.

Hussein suffered from a cardiac arrest in 2014 and has been relying on chronic medications since then. Despite his talents for music and art projects, Hussein has grappled with the harsh reality of chronic illness, exacerbated by the economic collapse in Lebanon.

"My entire income buys me two packs of medication," he says.

As a provider for his family of five, including three daughters and a son excelling in school, Hussein sheds light on the hard choices created by the price of medications. In this predicament, Hussein turned to the Ikram Dispensary in Bebnine and began to receive the medication he needs for his heart condition and diabetes through CARMAH that he otherwise would not have been able to afford.

"Being a musician is hard work. It is both physically and mentally stressful," Hussein says. “Since I started to take all my medications through CARMAH and Ikram Dispensary, my health stabilized and I was able to pursue my art and music more often.”

Hussein's story is but one among 11,050 lives touched by CARMAH in Lebanon’s North and Akkar governorates, and one of over 50,000 across Lebanon. Each individual, with their unique challenges, interests, and contributions, forms an integral part of the Lebanese community fabric and deserves access to the medications that enable them to maintain their health.

In the partnership between CARMAH and local dispensaries all over Lebanon with U.S. government funding, stories such as Hussein's emphasize the tangible impact of collaborative support. Through CARMAH's intervention, lives are not only sustained but empowered to thrive, underscoring the project's significance in fostering resilience and hope in the face of adversity.