Lebanon was once a leading healthcare center in the Arab region, benefiting from its advanced hospitals and highly skilled medical professionals. Today, however, it faces a growing cancer crisis, exacerbated by high smoking rates, economic collapse, and the lingering effects of Israeli bombing.
Between 1990 and 2023, cancer cases in Lebanon increased by 162%, while cancer-related deaths rose by 80%. These figures not only reflect the escalating burden of the disease but also reveal the increasing difficulties patients face in accessing timely diagnosis and treatment.
According to a study published in October 2025 in The Lancet, Lebanon, with a population of approximately 6 million, experienced one of the fastest rates of increase globally in both new cancer cases and cancer-related deaths between 1990 and 2023.
The cancer crisis in Lebanon is linked to a complex web of interconnected economic, health, and social factors. Since 2019, the economic collapse has severely reduced the ability of a large segment of the Lebanese population to afford healthcare and medications, while various components of the healthcare system have been affected, including funding, the provision of medical supplies, and the continuity of treatment services.
The deteriorating economic situation has driven a significant number of doctors and nurses to emigrate in search of better job opportunities, depleting the healthcare sector of its workforce, while simultaneously driving up the prices of many medications and specialized treatments.
The Israeli bombing campaigns on southern Lebanon and the outskirts of Beirut have exacerbated the suffering of cancer patients, as many were forced to flee their homes, resulting in missed chemotherapy sessions and essential follow-up appointments.
At least one cancer treatment ward was also damaged by the airstrikes, further straining a healthcare system that was already struggling before the latest escalation.
In 2022, Lebanon recorded 13,034 new cancer cases and 7,307 cancer-related deaths, in addition to 33,576 cases that were still alive during the previous five years, according to data from the World Cancer Observatory of the International Agency for Research on Cancer.
