Feature: Syrian refugees bemoan children's poor health situation

Hanadi al-Aouni, displaced from the devastated city of Idlib, holds Shadi, her one-year-old infant, suffering from malnutrition, bemoaning her situation in her tent in the west of the Qab Elias refugee camp in the Bekaa region.

"I took him to the doctor who regularly visits the refugee camp and he diagnosed him with severe malnutrition. He prescribed several vitamins which I can't afford and which aren't provided by the aid agencies," she told Xinhua.

She added that "due to the harsh conditions we experienced I was unable to breastfeed my son for more than three months which negatively affected his health. The doctor also prescribed milk but the milk can for a week's feeding costs 12 U.S. dollars. How can I afford it?"

Shadi's bitterness is not a unique one among the Syrian refugees displaced to the Western Bekaa town of Qab Elias.

It is almost an epidemic among children born in Lebanon in the past five years during their families' displacement.

Dr. Kamel Mhanna, head of a famous aid agency, told Xinhua "the malnutrition afflicting most of the Syrian refugee children, as well as several seniors."

Dr. Mhanna supervises a medical team who tour all the refugee camps in the Bekaa region.

He added that "the lack of vitamins and minerals hampers the human body's proper functions, resulting in fatigue and weight loss mainly affecting children and seniors."

Samer abou-Alian, displaced from Aleppo to Rachaya al-Wadi in Bekaa, told Xinhua that four of his seven children suffer from malnutrition as "they eat fruits, meat and vegetables only once a week, and live on canned food distributed by aid agencies for the remaining days of the week."

As for Salima al-Mahmoudi from Idlib, she revealed to Xinhua that her two-year-old son "is unable to walk yet due to his weak body."

She added "the doctor prescribed vitamins, large quantities of lemon and carrot juices and red meat, all of which I'm unable to afford, so under these severe living conditions it's expected that our children would suffer from malnutrition."

According to the UN Higher Council for Refugees, Lebanon is hosting over 1.1 million Syrians who fled their war-torn country since the beginning of the uprising against President Bashar Assad's government in March 2011. Endit