WHO’s Contribution to the Health Response

Practice Aim

Reinforcement of quality primary and secondary health care, reinforcement of communicable diseases monitoring, early warning and response system, and equipping health facilities and supplying vaccines and medicines

Target Groups

Vulnerable and displaced Syrians

Criteria actors or stakeholder are using to assess them as a “good practice”

The capacity of the health sector has been severely challenged by a 50% increase in demand for and utilization of existing health infrastructures and the continued heightened risk of outbreaks of  communicable diseases. Moreover, the deterioration of the social and environmental determinants of health – including the increase in poverty, poor water and sanitation facilities and environmental pollution – negatively impacts the health status of refugees and host communities.

Financial support to the health sector in Lebanon has been insufficient to enable equitable provision of services to meet essential health needs at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels.

Access to health care in the sixth year of the crisis remains of serious concern

Name and leading organization

WHO Country Office (Beirut, Lebanon) Dr. Gabriele Riedner, WHO Acting Representative. riednerg@who.int

WHO Country Office (Beirut, Lebanon) Dr. Ramzieh Sabbah, Communication Officer

sabbahr@who.int

Application setting

Syrians displaced in Tents in North and Bekaa

Objectives

  • Component 1: Reinforcement of quality primary and secondary health care
  • Component 2: Reinforcement of communicable diseases monitoring, early warning and response system
  • Component 3: Equipping health facilities and supplying vaccines and medicines

Length

2 years in review (2014–2015)

Requirements/ accessibility issues

Performance procedures

Component 1: Mother and Child Health Care initiative/ Integration of mental health/ Non-communicable diseases initiative/ Training on the rational use of medicines, management of medicines and role of health workers/ Training on the revised national guideline for Integrated Management of/ Childhood Illness (IMCI)/ Training on emergency obstetrics care to improve delivery outcomes/ Training on neonatal resuscitation and stabilization/ Training on updated clinical management protocols for the most common/ health conditions in PHC centres/ Training on the content of essential health packages to PHC centre teams

Component 2: Standard operating procedures updated for the response and surveillance of 43 selected diseases and hazards/ 9 newly developed surveillance guidelines in 3 languages/ Training on standard operating surveillance and response procedures for priority notifiable diseases/ Training on school-based surveillance and response system/ Training on food safety principles and standard food sampling and inspection procedures/ 8 water laboratories established to monitor water quality and alert for any potential waterborne disease outbreaks

Component 3: 6255 medical equipment items provided to 180 national PHC centres/ Increased stock of essential medications for acute diseases/ Distribution of 102 376 insulin vials to PHC centres/ Provision of tuberculosis medications to the national tuberculosis programme/ Provision of 10 000 ampules of Glucantime for the treatment of leishmaniasis to 12 leishmaniasis clinics/ Provision of 264 medical equipment items to 8 hospitals to reinforce emergency obstetric and neonatal intensive care/ 583 chlorine barrels distributed throughout Lebanon in order to prevent and/or contain waterborne disease outbreaks/ 500 000 medical files, 20 000 vaccination cards and 100 000 pregnancy cards and other primary health care materials/forms printed and made available for use at all PHC centres

Difficulties or constrains for its implementation

  • Increased health care needs
  • Access to health services for refugees
  • Health system challenges