WHO, with support from the European Union, is providing essential medications for chronic and acute conditions via Lebanon’s national primary health care (PHC) network to ensure continuity of care during the COVID-19 outbreak. This allows the continuation of regular activities such as immunization, consultations for individuals with noncommunicable disease, medication dispensation and other activities.
Centers from Lebanon’s PHC network have initiated screening for COVID-19 following training conducted by the Order of Nurses, in collaboration with the PHC department at the Ministry of Public Health. Staff working in PHC centres started screening for COVID-19 using a triage questionnaire prepared by the Order of Nurses in line with WHO recommendations. Since early March 2020 the PHC centers have been equipped by UNICEF with Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).
Another critical aspect of Lebanon’s COVID-19 surveillance system is contact tracing. It is a main pillar of the national COVID-19 surveillance system, through field investigation to identify people exposed to contacts of confirmed cases, combined with rapid deployment of health response teams for COVID-19 testing and daily follow-up over phone. Contact tracing and follow up can be done in Lebanon through a mobile application developed by the Ministry of Public Health.
Read the full WHO/EMRO story about contact tracing and screening in Lebanon