Social Protection

ILO launches consultations towards comprehensive universal healthcare in Lebanon

National and global health experts will gather in Beirut to identify areas for research and consideration, with the aim to produce a detailed and actionable plan to implement universal healthcare in Lebanon.

The ILO Regional Office for Arab States will bring together global and national health experts in order to devise areas of research for a cost and service provision feasibility study into how best to provide universal healthcare (UHC) to Lebanon’s population.

Drawing on estimates from an earlier ILO study (unpublished), roundtable discussions will seek to identify a future healthcare benefit package to be included in a publicly-funded universal health insurance package, provide options for financing such a scheme, and address the challenge of providing healthcare for Syrian refugees in Lebanon.  

The specific objectives of the roundtable discussion are to:

  • Familiarize participants with the healthcare context in Lebanon and the results of an earlier ILO study into the costs of implementing UHC in the country;
  •  identify content areas to be included in the study to share with governmental as well as non-governmental stakeholders for discussion and advocacy purposes; and
  • establish an advisory committee for the study to provide feedback drafts, and advise on dissemination.


The production of the study is part of the ILO’s commitment to the Social Protection Floor Initiative, adopted by the Chief Executives Board of the United Nations in April 2009 and lead by the ILO and the World Health Organization.