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Lebanon
Health Overview
Key Health Risks
Health Risk Callout
Other Health Risks
Regional Information
Vaccine and Malaria Prevention
No malaria risk.
Physician Note
I do not recommend travel here currently. Lebanon is Level 4 — do not travel, for any reason — with an ordered departure of non-emergency US government personnel and their family members in effect since February 2026, and the State Department stating plainly that it has limited ability to provide emergency services. US-brokered talks between Lebanon and Israel advanced through mid-2026, including a trilateral framework signed in June, but the advisory has not changed, and drone and missile strikes can occur anywhere in the country, including Beirut.
One driver deserves naming because it is easy to overlook next to the armed-conflict picture: the advisory lists risk of wrongful detention. That risk does not track proximity to the fighting, and it falls hardest on dual nationals. It belongs in the conversation alongside the security briefing.
For the diaspora families who go regardless — and they are most of who asks — the most useful conversation is medication logistics. Lebanon's pharmaceutical shortage is severe: insulin, cardiac drugs, and oncology agents have been unavailable for extended periods, so carry your entire supply from the US plus a thirty-day buffer, in original packaging. Add hepatitis A and typhoid for infrastructure-degraded water, discuss cholera vaccination for anyone near displacement settlements, and drink bottled only. The absolute rule is unexploded ordnance: never leave paved roads south of the Litani or near the Syrian border, where up to a million cluster munitions from 2006 remain, joined by newer contamination. AUBMC continues operating under extraordinary stress — genuine institutional resilience — but it cannot substitute for a consular safety net that is explicitly limited. Check flight and airport status directly before counting on departure by air; medevac routes to Cyprus or Jordan when the airport is open.
Pre-Departure Checklist
8+ Weeks
- DO NOT TRAVEL HERE — Lebanon is Level 4 for any reason (advisory dated August 21 2026). Confirm whether the trip should proceed at all
- Understand that wrongful detention is a named risk driver; dual nationals should weigh this particularly carefully
- CDC recommends routine vaccines including MMR (Measles THN)
- Hepatitis A — strongly recommended; infrastructure disruption increases contamination risk
- Typhoid
- Hepatitis B
- Cholera vaccine — discuss for displacement camp areas and southern Lebanon.
2–4 Weeks
- Register with STEP and notify BeirutACS@state.gov
- Carry ALL medications from the US — severe local shortages
- Confirm hostile-environment insurance and medevac routing
- Assemble 72-hour shelter supplies
- Check current commercial flight and airport status directly with airlines — hostilities can disrupt both flights and access to the airport.
Day Of
- BeirutACS@state.gov; State Dept 24/7: +1-202-501-4444
- Southern Lebanon: depart immediately
- If departure is impossible, shelter in an interior room with 72 hours of supplies
- AUBMC +961-1-350000
- UXO: never leave paved roads.
Trip Type Guidance
No standard trip types. Lebanon is Level 4 — Do Not Travel, for any reason. Organizations operating in Lebanon should do so only under a formal security framework. An ordered departure of non-emergency US government personnel and their family members has been in effect since February 23 2026, and the US government has limited ability to provide emergency services. Wrongful detention is a named risk driver. BeirutACS@state.gov. [VERIFY: commercial flight status before planning departure by air.]
