The revolutions that spread across North Africa in 2011 also affected Libya. During the time leading up to Gaddafi’s fall, many parts of Libya experienced heavy fighting, resulting in thousands of wounded soldiers as well as civilians. Large numbers of wounded warriors were sent to hospitals abroad for treatment, also to Switzerland. Since the end of revolution, the cost of treating injured warriors abroad has put a huge burden on the health system. It also reflects the general lack of trust of the population in the quality of services provided by the Libyan public health system. The project feasibility mission conducted in April 2012 showed that the Libyan medical system is not in a position to provide professional care for the patients needing long-term treatment, in particular in areas such as pain management, physiotherapy/ occupational therapy, psychosocial support and wound care. While equipment or medications are often available, skills and know-how is not applied according to international standards.

To reinforce public service delivery by increasing the quality of medical rehabilitation treatment dispensed by two pilot public hospitals.

A Memorandum of Understanding will be signed with the Ministry of Health. Project funds are spent by SDC, i.e. no transfer of funds to a contract partner.

To improve the quality of public medical service delivery related to rehabilitation in pilot hospitals: Pain management; Physiotherapy / occupational therapy; Psychosocial support; Wound-care (1).To reinforce the focus on the medical rehabilitation needs of women and children, taking into account the specific socio-cultural context in pilot hospitals(2). To increase the confidence of Libyan citizens in public medical service delivery related to rehabilitation services delivered by pilot hospitals (3). To support the technical and management capacities of the Ministry of Health, with a view to up-scaling and/or replicating the project (4)

Phase 1 01.02.2014 - 31.12.2016   (Completed)