Improving public health prepardedness [sic] preparedness to COVID-19 and future emergencies in Lebanon : integrating a program for community health workers in primary health care

Abstract

The Primary Healthcare sector in Lebanon is struggling in responding to the Community healthcare demand due to limited resources, weak governance, and socio-economic crises amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Primary Healthcare centers are facing severe shortages in medications, equipment, and healthcare professionals. The root cause of resource deficiency is the absence of the MOPH financial support (5% of the MOPH budget) for PHC services). The primary healthcare centers in Lebanon require a focused approach to evaluate the healthcare quality, resources, and community needs. The PHCCs in the Sin El-Fil area are severely affected by the worsening situation of the National healthcare policies and lack of essential resources. Two governmentally affiliated PHCCs and two Non-governmentally affiliated PHCCs contribute to deliver a bundle of healthcare services for the local community and the residing Lebanese, refugees, and immigrant workers at Sin El-fil. At the SEF-PHCCs, the shortage of Healthcare professionals is a prominent public health issue that jeopardizes the response to Community Healthcare needs during stable and crisis periods. The Strategy of Developing a Community Health Workers Team addresses the consistent conditions of poor financial resources and the shortage of healthcare professionals in SEFPHCCs (Sin El-Fil Primary healthcare centers). The CHWs team support the healthcare delivery during regular situations to respond to Covid-19 or any future pandemics in Sin El Fil. It proposes contextual and feasible Interventions to recruit, train, and sustain the CHWs team; this is a road map for the municipality and collaborating organizations and implementers in the SEF PHCCs to form a group of CHWs. The intern developed this strategy to have a team of CHWs at SEF to work as a support system in all situations. The intern task included conducting literature review, developing a strategy to for the selection and hiring CHWs, and updating the retention plan, developing the governance and evaluation system for CHWs, and selecting and recruit CHWs from SEF community in collaboration with Community Committee (CC) of SEF (note: CC a committee at SEF was established at an earlier stage in the project.