Shortage of essential medicines and health service providers, and limited capacity of national public health programmes, increase the risk of spread of communicable diseases, including acute watery diarrhoea, leishmaniasis, tuberculosis and vaccine preventable diseases. Migrants, displaced people, refugees, and rural communities are especially at risk.
Inadequate access to health care is also impacting patients with chronic diseases, people with special needs and mental health conditions, and women and mothers in need of reproductive, maternal, and newborn child health services.
Despite the health sector receiving only 36% of required funding for the Libya Humanitarian Response Plan in 2018, WHO successfully supported almost 405 000 medical consultations through the provision of medical supplies, more than 16 400 specialized health care consultations, and 188 major surgical procedures, including cardiac surgeries for 78 children.
In December 2018, WHO and UNICEF, in partnership with National Center for Disease Control of the Ministry of Health, implemented a national measles, rubella and polio vaccination campaign that reached more than 2.65 million children.
“Investing in the health of people in Libya is a critical investment in the future of the Region,” added Dr Jaffar. “Without funding, hundreds of thousands of people will be left without the health services they need, further adding to this humanitarian tragedy and increasing the risk of diseases crossing borders.”
Health response activities by WHO and 8 health partners in Libya in 2019 include: providing a minimum package of health services to people in need (including migrants in detention centres) through fixed or mobile facilities; strengthening the disease surveillance and rapid response system; and supporting health facilities by training and deploying Emergency Medical Teams to provide specialized health services.
Related link
Libya Humanitarian Response Plan 2018
