The European Investment Bank ( EIB ) and the World Health Organization ( WHO ) have launched a €10 million ( US$10.8 million ) grant support to boost health resilience across Lebanon, including combating medicine scarcity and fragmented laboratory services.

The cooperation, signed at the EIB Forum in Luxembourg by WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and EIB vice-president Thomas Östros, will support the re-establishment of the Central Public Health Laboratory ( CPHL ) in Lebanon crucial for enhancing the detection capacity for emerging infectious diseases.

It will test for emergency infectious diseases, promptly confirming potential pathogens to prevent outbreaks, which will be especially relevant among vulnerable displaced populations and refugees. The CPHL will also test all blood donations to ensure safe transfusions.

Today’s agreement, the parties say, will also unlock provision of essential medicines and expert support to primary healthcare centres across Lebanon. This will enable public healthcare centres to restore services, including reproductive health and prevention of gender-based violence, addressing specific gender gaps in services.

The grant is provided by the donor-financed the EIB’s Economic Resilience Initiative Fund.

Lebanon’s health system is under significant strain due to a severe economic and financial collapse, compounded by multiple crises, including conflict in southern Lebanon, the Beirut port explosion, the Syrian conflict and a cholera epidemic. Humanitarian challenges continue to escalate, the parties add, making the population increasingly vulnerable.