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Universal Health Coverage
I. Introduction
Achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC) is a main goal of the Ministry of Public Health’s (MoPH) National Health Strategy for year 2015. UHC is based on the principles of justice, equity, poverty reduction and the rational use of resources. Provision of quality health care for all is a major target, achieved by satisfying people’s needs while alleviating the financial burden on households, especially the poor.
Since the development of the National primary health care (PHC) network, scaling up the PHC system and reducing out of pocket payments have been major strategic directions of MoPH. However, the Syrian crisis has placed a large and additional burden on the healthcare system in Lebanon with the PHC system at the frontline.
Realizing the urgent need to address the emerging health crisis especially in underserved host communities, MoPH developed an emergency program aimed at expanding the PHC package to target the poor and near poor population in Lebanon. Accordingly, MoPH embarked on a project with the support of World Bank in a step towards achieving ‘’Universal Health Coverage’’ in Lebanon during the last trimester of 2014.
The objective of this project is to restore access to essential health care services for poor Lebanese individuals that have been affected by the influx of Syrian refugees to Lebanon and to provide an essential healthcare package to eligible beneficiaries living in areas most affected by the crisis through the MoPH Network of PHC centers. The target population of this project was chosen from the National Poverty Targeting Program (NPTP) of the Ministry of Social Affairs (MoSA), which defines the extremely poor individuals living below the poverty line for a period of three years. Out of the 310,000 enrollees to the NPTP, 150,000 have been selected for this project based on those living in areas with highest concentration of NPTP enrollees (500 or more) and living in areas that are most affected by the crisis.
Accordingly, the project aims to provide the chosen 150,000 individuals with a newly introduced package of essential health services (Essential Health Care Package, EHCP) through the MoPH Network of PHC centers and Outpatient Departments (OPD) of public hospitals.
Since the development of the National primary health care (PHC) network, scaling up the PHC system and reducing out of pocket payments have been major strategic directions of MoPH. However, the Syrian crisis has placed a large and additional burden on the healthcare system in Lebanon with the PHC system at the frontline.
Realizing the urgent need to address the emerging health crisis especially in underserved host communities, MoPH developed an emergency program aimed at expanding the PHC package to target the poor and near poor population in Lebanon. Accordingly, MoPH embarked on a project with the support of World Bank in a step towards achieving ‘’Universal Health Coverage’’ in Lebanon during the last trimester of 2014.
The objective of this project is to restore access to essential health care services for poor Lebanese individuals that have been affected by the influx of Syrian refugees to Lebanon and to provide an essential healthcare package to eligible beneficiaries living in areas most affected by the crisis through the MoPH Network of PHC centers. The target population of this project was chosen from the National Poverty Targeting Program (NPTP) of the Ministry of Social Affairs (MoSA), which defines the extremely poor individuals living below the poverty line for a period of three years. Out of the 310,000 enrollees to the NPTP, 150,000 have been selected for this project based on those living in areas with highest concentration of NPTP enrollees (500 or more) and living in areas that are most affected by the crisis.
Accordingly, the project aims to provide the chosen 150,000 individuals with a newly introduced package of essential health services (Essential Health Care Package, EHCP) through the MoPH Network of PHC centers and Outpatient Departments (OPD) of public hospitals.
II. Planned Activities
The planned activities for this project are the following:
- Launching of the project
- Development of Project Management Unit at the PHC department at MoPH
- Contracting 75 PHC centers
- Development of updated Health information System and integration into the selected PHC centers
- Training and capacity building of staff from the selected PHC centers
- Provision of healthcare services to beneficiaries
- Implementation and support to the selected PHC centers provided by MoPH
- Monitoring & Evaluation
- Evaluation of the project: conducted at midyear and final (1.5 years and 3 years of implementation) by World Bank; conducted yearly by MoPH
- Conducting Financial audits
- External technical evaluation by third party
III. Introduction to UHC Meeting
On Thursday, January 8th 2015, Dr. Walid Ammar, Director General of MoPH, discussed the concept note of the UHC project in a meeting with the presence of NGO representatives from across Lebanon. The project description, activities, and the Ministry’s support were explained during this meeting. Further issues of the attendants’ feedback, input, and perceived gaps of implementation were also discussed.
IV. UHC Preparatory Meeting
On Tuesday 17th March 2015, a ''Universal Health Coverage Preparatory Meeting'' was held at MoPH by Dr. Walid Ammar, Director General of MoPH, Mrs Randa Hamadeh, Head of PHC department at MoPH and UHC Project Coordinator, and other committee members of the UHC Project with the presence of representatives from 72 PHC centers chosen from the PHC network
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