LEBANON — Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health has released a three-year midterm review of the National Health Strategy: Vision 2030, reporting progress across several health-sector reforms while highlighting continued challenges related to financing and structural reform amid the country’s economic, health and security crises.
Launched in January 2023, Vision 2030 aims to strengthen Lebanon’s health system, expand universal health coverage and move the sector from crisis response toward a more sustainable and resilient system.
The review assesses 88 strategic objectives, including 64 continuous objectives and 24 specific milestones. According to the ministry, 62 objectives had recorded “significant progress” by the end of the third year, including 13 specific milestones and 49 continuous objectives. One objective had been completed, work had begun on 16, while nine objectives recorded no progress.
This represents a significant increase compared with the first year, when 30 objectives were classified as showing significant progress. The figure rose to 55 in the second year.
The review was based on contributions from 42 ministry departments, as well as UN agencies, international donors, non-governmental organizations and academic institutions.
Emergency Response and Digital Transformation
The review highlights the operationalization of the Public Health Emergency Operations Center and its Command and Control Center, strengthening coordination among hospitals, emergency services and frontline teams during mass-casualty incidents and periods of conflict.
The ministry also reported the reactivation of its Laboratory Directorate and progress toward establishing the Central Public Health Laboratory, aimed at strengthening Lebanon’s capacity to detect emerging infectious diseases and monitor pharmaceutical quality.
Digital health systems were also expanded, including MediTrack for tracking medicines across pharmacies and hospitals, LMS for stock registration, the AMAN portal for high-cost medication approvals, and DHIS2 for integrating health information.
Primary Healthcare Expands
The number of primary healthcare centers increased from 279 in 2023 to 326, according to the review.
Services also expanded through mobile medical units, community health workers and school health initiatives, alongside services covering mental health, nutrition and maternal health.
The reforms also included support for public hospitals through equipment, training and specialized programs. The ministry said neonatal and pediatric surgery programs carried out more than 800 life-saving procedures.
Financing Remains a Major Challenge
Despite progress in service delivery, health financing reforms remain among the areas facing the greatest delays.
Three major objectives recorded no progress over the three-year period: establishing a single pooled public health fund, creating a national health insurance authority, and integrating regulated private insurance into the national health financing system.
The process of establishing a unified basic benefits package across public healthcare payers also remains incomplete, as does the institutionalization of a Health Financing Coordination Committee.
At the same time, the REAYA financing model, based on capitation payments, has made progress. It has been implemented in more than 60 primary healthcare centers, using data from the National Poverty Targeting Program to waive healthcare costs for children, persons with disabilities and displaced populations.
The Next Phase
The ministry said the next phase will focus on consolidating existing reforms, addressing stalled objectives and strengthening the health system’s institutional and financial capacity.
The review comes as Lebanon’s health sector continues to operate amid overlapping economic, health and security crises, with several structural reforms, particularly those related to health financing, still incomplete as the country works toward the goals of Vision 2030.
