Lebanon National Health Strategy – Vision 2030- Two Year Review
Lebanon National Health Strategy – Vision 2030- One Year Review

Introduction

In January 2023, the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) launched its National Health Strategy: Vision 2030. Vision 2030 set out the framework for a sustained and modernized recovery of the health sector and intended to address the challenges of leading a burned-out health system. Through this strategy, and under the leadership of the MoPH, the different partners of the health sector joined efforts to respond to the escalating unmet health needs and participate in building a stronger, more resilient health system.

Over the past year, the National Health Strategy has made significant strides in enhancing the overall well-being of the population. The multifaceted approach has addressed key issues such as human resources shortage, challenged healthcare accessibility, and the massive gaps in health financing. Despite the multiple predicaments in the country, including the ongoing war and hostilities; the economic collapse and financial meltdown; the extended refugee crisis with its associated increased demand for scarce health resources; and disease outbreaks such as cholera; the health sector remained steady, and determined in achieving progress across the objectives outlined in the National Health Strategy. The National Health Strategy’s commitment to fostering advanced governance and financing mechanisms, investing in essential public health functions, strengthening primary healthcare, capacitating human resources, and embracing digital health technologies is expected to result in an advanced, more equitable, more inclusive, and more sustainable healthcare delivery.(Read More...)

 

Executive Summary

Lebanon is passing through one of the most severe and complex crises in its recent history, caused by the interplay of political turbulence, socioeconomic meltdown, and the lingering COVID-19 pandemic. Regionally, conflict and instability continue to result in the influx of refugees, which constitute now around one third of the Lebanese population.

The intertwined crises Lebanon has been suffering from unmasked the effects of pre-existing health system inefficiencies, including the predominance of tertiary care over preventive and primary care; a weakened public health sector; a pluralistic financing system; and a supply-induced demand with unsustainable and unrealistic expectations. The synergistic effects of these crises amplified the malfunctioning of a disrupted health system, rendering a system notorious for its resilience at the verge of a breakdown. As a result, the ability to respond to the increased needs of a growing population was deterred. Equitable access to care was exceptionally difficult for people with vulnerabilities. Worsening in health outcomes was noted at many fronts: life expectancy, maternal mortality, under 5 mortality, and childhood vaccination. Previously forgotten diseases such as diphtheria, tetanus, and most recently cholera re-emerged, and the health gains of previous years have started to fade away.

The multifaceted crisis has also severely impacted access to and utilization of healthcare services. The percentage of households with difficulty accessing health care rose from 25% to 36% within around 4 months during the year 2020. Hospitalizations, particularly for surgeries, diminished by 30% in 2021, and the average monthly hospitalization days decreased by 25%. The cost of treatments, medical consultations, or transportation to health facilities have become prohibitive to many, resulting in delayed presentation of patients for medical attention, who at many times presented with decompensated or non-salvageable conditions. Duly, challenged access to specialized healthcare was coupled with an exponential increased demand on the services provided by the Primary Health Care Network. With crisis, an opportunity has emerged for repositioning primary health care as a gateway for affordable, quality promotive, preventive, and primary health services, and for moving closer towards achieving Universal Health Coverage.

The recent drain of human resources particularly those with high competencies and specialization has become an increasing concern, with more than 20% of nurses and around 40% of doctors having already left the country. Additionally, the layoffs, salary cuts and closures of pharmacies and the reduced activities of hospitals which accompanied the economic crisis, deleteriously affected the healthcare workforce. This shortage in qualified human resources endangered the quality and availability of health care services.

The pharmaceutical sector was also hit hard by the crisis. In 2020, the government’s policy of relying on external sources for medications and medical supplies, coupled the economic crisis, led to drops in imports, resulting in severe market shortages. This has paved the way to hoarding, smuggling, black market practices, and the entry of illegal, low-quality drugs and supplies into the country.(Read More...)


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