Health in Lebanon

Lebanon is a small middle-income country on the Eastern Mediterranean shore with a population of around 4 million Lebanese citizens, 1.2 million Syrian refugees, and half a million Palestinian refugees. It is at the third stage of its demographic transition characterized by a decline in both fertility and mortality rates.^[1] Moreover, Lebanon, like many countries in the Middle East is experiencing an epidemiological transition with an increasingly ageing population suffering from chronic and non-communicable diseases.^[2] Mortality related to non-communicable diseases is 404.4 deaths per 100,000 individuals, with an estimate of 45% due to cardiovascular diseases, making them the leading cause of death in Lebanon.^[3] Lebanon has health indices that are close to those of more developed countries, with a reported life expectancy at birth of 80.1 years (81.4 years for women and 78.8 years for men) and an under-five mortality rate of 9.5 per 1,000 live births in 2016.^[4] Since the end of the 15-year Lebanese Civil War in 1990, Lebanon’s health indicators have significantly improved.

The Human Rights Measurement Initiative^[5] finds that Lebanon is fulfilling 85.1% of what it should be fulfilling for the right to health based on its level of income.^[6] When looking at the right to health with respect to children, Lebanon achieves 99.1% of what is expected based on its current income.^[6] In regards to the right to health amongst the adult population, the country achieves 98.9% of what is expected based on the nation's level of income.^[6] Overall, Lebanon falls between the "bad" and "fair" categories for the right to health because when evaluating the right to reproductive health, the nation is fulfilling only 57.2% of what the nation is expected to achieve based on the resources (income) it has available.^[6]