Launch of the SAHA Research Program “Crisis in Health? An Interdisciplinary Analysis of Care Practices in Lebanon” — Beirut, 4 mars 2026

SAHA aims to study the structuring of public action in the field of mental health in the context of war and multi-sectoral crisis that Lebanon has been experiencing in recent years. The aim is to understand how and in what terms the right to mental health is defined and constructed when political, social, and economic inequalities permeate every aspect of daily life for the majority of the population, and when war is a constantly renewed possibility. To this end, this research programme explores ordinary social experiences and everyday practices relating to mental suffering and care.

This event includes a presentation by the project team, followed by a roundtable discussion: ‘Mental Health in the Everyday: Suffering and Care Practices’, with Hussein Chaabane (investigative journalist at Legal Agenda), Zeina Daccache (clinical psychologist & drama therapist), Lamia Moghnieh (medical anthropologist & clinical psychologist), and Chantal Youssef (researcher in public health and social science).

The event is open to knowledge producers, practitioners, and anyone interested in health and care issues in contemporary Lebanon. The presentations will be in English. The event will conclude with a shared iftar meal.

Please register here : https://framaforms.org/registration-for-the-launch-of-the-saha-research-program-crisis-in-health-an-interdisciplinary

Where: Fabrika, Sassine St, Ashrafiyeh, Beirut

When:  Wednesday, 4th of March, 4pm

Roundtable participants:

Hussein Chaabane is a Lebanese investigative journalist at Legal Agenda. His reporting examines how war and prolonged crisis shape rights, public institutions, and access to essential services, including healthcare. He connects field documentation to socio-legal analysis and accountability debates in Lebanon.

Zeina Daccache is a Lebanese actress, theatre / film director and drama therapist. She is the founder and Executive Director of Catharsis – Lebanese Center for Drama Therapy and works as drama therapist in different settings (prisons, rehabilitation centers, etc.). Her work amended several laws in Lebanon. She is recipient of many awards given for her distinguished contributions to the field of social initiatives and services.

Lamia Moghnieh is an associate Professor at the Centre for Culture and the Mind at the University of Copenhagen, and an associate Researcher at the Arab Council for the Social Sciences. She is the co-founder and researcher with the group ‘Ethnography and Knowledge in the Arab Region,’ a working group under the auspices of the Arab Council for the Social Sciences. As a medical anthropologist, a psychotherapist and social worker, she contributes to the SAHA project with her research on the political, social, and sensitive history of psychiatry in the MENA region, particularly in Lebanon and Tunisia.

Chantal Youssef is aresearcher working at the intersection of public health and the social sciences at the Arab Master for Democracy and Human Rights at Saint Joseph University of Beirut and at the Asfari Institute for Civil Society and Citizenship at the American University of Beirut. Her work focuses on the mental health impacts of enforced disappearance and displacement on women’s lives in the Syrian context. She also explores feminist and decolonial approaches to justice and the sustaining of women’s struggles, using creative and participatory tools. »

SAHA is a project funded by the French National Research Agency (Agence Nationale de la Recherche) and based at the French Institute of the Near East (Institut français du Proche-Orient) in Lebanon. For more information about the research project and team click here!

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