LAUSR

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is causing a serious public health issue around the globe (Cascella, 2020). Its impact is even more devastating in low-to-middle income countries (LMIC) where healthcare systems risk to be overwhelmed very quickly (The Lancet, 2020). Older adults are at a higher risk of developing serious complications and death related to the virus, given their relatively weaker immune system and increased number ofmedical comorbidities compared to young adults (Sominsky et al., 2020). Rigorous prevention measures such as social distancing and self-isolation undertaken by governments worldwide to curb the pandemic are being rigorously imposed on older adults. However, quarantine has been associated with a significant increase in depressive and anxiety symptoms in this population (Armitage andNellums, 2020). Following the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic in 2003, suicide rates in the elderly were shown to significantly increase in Hong Kong (Cheung et al., 2008), hence the imminent need to promote mental well-being of older adults during this pandemic. Lebanon is a small middle-income country in the Middle East located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean. Its total surface area is around 10,452 km2 (Presidency of the Council of Ministers, 2020). Its population is estimated at around 7million individuals (The World Bank, 2020), including 1.5 million Syrian refugees, the largest number of refugees per capita in the world, according to the latest reports from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) (UNHCR Fact Sheet Lebanon, 2020). Lebanon currently reports the highest proportion of adults aged 65 years and above (10%) among all Arab countries (Central Administration of Statistics, 2012). This number is projected to increase to 21% by the year 2050 (Mehio et al., 2015). Only 1.4% of the elderly population are institutionalized (Chemali et al., 2008). The lifetime and 12-month prevalence rates of having a mental disorder in Lebanese older adults are 17.4% and 10.6%, respectively (Karam, 2016). Geriatric psychiatry is a burgeoning subspecialty in Lebanon, with currently only two geriatric psychiatrists (the authors RK and GK) registered at the Lebanese order of physicians practicing in an academic private university hospital in the capital, disserving the entire country. Primary care physicians and neurologists provide much of the mental healthcare for Lebanese older adults, because of the stigma related to mental illness, in addition to the scarcity of geriatric psychiatrists.