LIBYA – In recent years, medical assistance provided by mobile health units and increased access to skilled birth attendants have aided in the reduction of neonatal mortality rates in Libya.
More than 25,000 women and girls have benefited from sexual and reproductive health services in the last three years, and more than 100,000 households have been reached through sexual and reproductive health promotion and awareness activities.
The African Trust Fund of the European Union is funding mobile health units in Tripoli, Sabha, and Benghazi, while the Japanese government is supporting units in Ghat and Um-al-Araneb.
Since 2018, UNFPA and its partners have deployed mobile health units across the country, with a medical team leader, two specialized obstetricians/gynecologists, two pediatricians, an anesthesiologist, a general doctor, and two midwives rotating through various health facilities every two months.
These teams provide critical maternal and newborn health services, such as basic and comprehensive obstetric and newborn care, family planning, and medical case management for survivors of gender-based violence, as well as general consultation and first aid.
Despite the pandemic, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)-supported health facilities have played an important role in maintaining essential sexual, reproductive, maternal, and mental health services, which are not available in nearly 90% of the country’s primary health-care facilities.
The mobile health units also provide COVID-19 awareness and family planning services that are not available at other facilities.
“In 2021, over 10,000 people were reached through our health services. Still, more than 1.3 million people out of a total population of 6.9 million lack access to basic health care. A large proportion of health facilities are not functional or lack supplies or human resources. We need to scale up our efforts before the situation deteriorates further,” said Asr Toson, UNFPA’s representative in Libya.
“We would request partners and donor institutions to come join hands with us in our pursuit to achieve a safer future for Libya and its people,” he added.
Armed conflict, protracted insecurity, and the COVID-19 pandemic have increased demand for maternal and reproductive health services, which are already in short supply, affecting women and girls disproportionately.
Services are even more difficult to obtain in remote areas such as Ghat, in the western part of the country near the Algerian border.
“Our health system has relied heavily on foreign health workers in the past to ensure accessibility of health services including sexual and reproductive health,” said Fathi Abouras, deputy head of mobile medical convoys at the Ministry of Health.
“However, political instability and the fragile security situation has caused a major dearth of manpower. UNFPA has provided tremendous support for expanding health coverage.”
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