A call for strengthening the current Libyan national health system by focusing on quality of care: A policy brief

• Published date: 01 March 2023
• Author: Abeer Eddib,Hasan Eddib
• Date: 01 March 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/wmh3.560

Received: 23 July 2022

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Accepted: 13 November 2022

DOI: 10.1002/wmh3.560

COMMENTARY

A call for strengthening the current Libyan

national health system by focusing on quality

of care: A policy brief

Abeer Eddib |Hasan Eddib

Kaleida Health, Getzville, New York, USA

Correspondence

Abeer Eddib, Kaleida Health, 9 Krantz Ln,

Getzville, NY 14068, USA.

Email: ABEEREDDIB@hotmail.com

Abstract

TheLibyanhealthsystemisinadirestate,andafter

security, strengthening the health system is a top

national priority. The initial effort should focus on

capacity building using the existing healthcare system

as a foundation, and not try to design a new health

system that is not appropriate for the situation on the

ground. Many new health systems that have been

successfully designed and implemented in the last two

decades, such as in Taiwan, have built on the

experiences and best practices from different countr-

ies. These however, were already stable countries that

possess the requisite cross‐sector infrastructure to

build upon. Libya is different: it not only lacks a robust

functioning health system, it lacks many of the

infrastructure requirements to carry on most other

basic functions. Furthermore, unlike many other

countries, Libya is unique in that the financing of

healthcare in the long run should not be an issue due

to the relatively small population size and potential

revenue.

Efforts should focus on identifying the strengths and

weaknesses of the current national health system and

see what needs to be changed to align it along a model

of patient‐centered quality care. The current main issue

appears to be that of governance and management,

which should be redesigned and strengthened to

achieve the key strategic objectives of quality and

patient safety. For Libya to start to do this, it should try

to model an existing single‐payer government model to

help improve outcomes.

KEYWORDS

health, Libya, national health system

World Medical & Health Policy. 2023;15:88–97.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/wmh388

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