Improved health for women and children

BACKGROUND

The “Women’s and Children’s Health” project is in response to the gynecological, obstetric, neonatal and pediatric crisis in Lebanon, and builds on pre-existing structures. The aim is to improve access to specific healthcare for women and children.

CONTEXT

The Pierre Fabre Foundation has been operating in Lebanon since 2002. Initial support was given to the Order of Malta Lebanon’s primary healthcare center in Khaldieh.  In 2015, in response to the arrival of 2 million Syrian refugees in Lebanon, the Pierre Fabre Foundation responded to the Order of Malta Lebanon’s appeal and funded the running of a mobile medical unit in the Western Beqaa District, providing treatment completely free of charge. This initiative was then extended to a second mobile medical unit in Chouf in 2022.

In 2019, the Order of Malta Lebanon wanted to change its structure and develop its medical activities. The Pierre Fabre Foundation initially provided substantial technical and financial support to enable its partner to revamp its entire internal organization and launch prevention activities in light of the country’s collapse (Soha project). Since then, the Pierre Fabre Foundation has been working to help improve the quality of care.

The “Women’s and Children’s Health” project aims to combat the impact that the impoverishment of the Lebanese population has on health. The initiative is a dual response to both structure the governance of new local partners (ASSAMEH B&B, Quarantine Hospital) and propose a model for developing and improving the volume and quality of available care, while streamlining expenditure: “doing more and better with less”. Ultimately, the goal is also to make the Pierre Fabre Foundation – Order of Malta Lebanon – ASSAMEH Birth and Beyond consortium a national reference for the organization, governance and quality of mother and child healthcare.

DESCRIPTION  

In this new program, the Pierre Fabre Foundation, which is the leader of the Pierre Fabre Foundation, Order of Malta Lebanon, ASSAMEH B&B consortium, oversees the operationalization of activities and provides technical support. It is also responsible for the program’s administrative and financial management, while OML remains in charge of primary healthcare activities and ASSAMEH B&B provides support to the Quarantine Government Hospital.

The “Women’s and Children’s Health in Lebanon” program therefore builds on existing activities, developing and supplementing them through support for managing the obstetrics/gynecology, neonatology, pediatric surgery and ICU units at the Quarantine Hospital. Subsidized activities cover women’s health consultations, normal and high-risk pregnancies, simple and complicated births, neonatology, pediatric surgery and the pediatric ICU, as well as children’s health, including health at school, and prevention, of violence against women and children in particular.

The activities are possible thanks to the OML’s network of primary healthcare centers and referrals for additional examinations and hospitalizations, and thanks to the neonatology, ICU, pediatric surgery and obstetrics units at the Quarantine Government Hospital, with ASSAMEH B&B handling medical management.

The success of the “Women’s and Children’s Health in Lebanon” program is based on networked operation, and rigorous monitoring and evaluations. The results are promoted and shared, in particular with the Ministry of Public Health and the technical and financial partners.

The program’s sustainability will be ensured by establishing an economic model and continuing to seek specific funding.