Health in Lebanon

Lebanon hosts 452,669 registered refugees, of whom over 50 per cent live in 12 Palestine refugee camps. They face employment restrictions, and work permits are prohibitively expensive, leading to protracted financial dependence. They are also ineligible for the state’s social services, including health care, and are exposed to recurrent episodes of violence.

Access to health care for Palestine refugees is provided only by the private sector, which has high fees, or by international organizations, including UNRWA. We operate 27 primary health care facilities, providing nearly 931,000 general consultations and over 23,000 dental screening consultations each year.

In Lebanon alone, UNRWA has formed an arrangement with Palestine Red Crescent Society hospitals to guarantee equity for Palestine refugees in access to secondary health care. In all other fields, a reimbursement scheme is in place for secondary and tertiary care.

In Figures

• Refugees accessing (served population) UNRWA health services (%/no.): %54.9 (260,408)
• Primary health care (PHC) facilities (no.): 27
• Total outpatient consultations for general doctor: 930,730
• Total outpatient consultations for specialist doctor: 49,077
• Average daily medical consultations / doctor: 103
• Total dental screening consultations (no.): 23,084
• Laboratory tests: 307,431
• Plain x-rays: Inside UNRWA: 18,078, Outside UNRWA: 7,675
• Health staff :   357

Family planning

• New family planning users (no.): 1,706
• Continuing family planning users at end year: 14,057
• Deliveries in health institutions (%): 97.9

Non-communicable diseases (NCD) patients registered with UNRWA

• Total 23,706
• Diabetes mellitus type I: 236
• Diabetes mellitus type II: 2,380
• Hypertension: 12,488
• Diabetes mellitus & hypertension: 8,602