Healthcare Financing Arrangements and Service Provision for Syrian Refugees in Lebanon

Abstract

By September 2018, Lebanon hosted an estimated 1.5 million displaced Syrians. This chapter analyses healthcare financing and service provision for them, with a focus on women, children and adolescents. We reviewed the literature on health financing and provision of health services to Syrian refugees in Lebanon and conducted an original analysis of aid to Lebanon from 2002 to 2016. The Syrian refugee population in Lebanon has placed a critical strain on the country’s economy and public services, including the health system. Aid to the humanitarian and health sectors comprised 28% ($3.2 billion) of aid to Lebanon between 2002 and 2016. Displaced Syrians in Lebanon accessing health services faced high out-of-pocket expenditures within a system dominated by private sector provision. Cash-based interventions were increasingly used to deliver aid to displaced Syrians, with subsidised private sector and free public sector primary health services. This left a significant gap in the provision of secondary and tertiary care, adding to the financial burden on refugees. Given these funding cuts, the financing and delivery of essential services to refugees in Lebanon remains precarious. This adds to existing pressures on Lebanon’s health system and challenges faced by vulnerable populations in accessing essential services.