How do you rebuild a health system after decades of instability?

Priorities of the National Eye Health Policy

1. Working towards universal health coverage

The first priority of the policy is access. Historically, eye health facilities were mainly in Monrovia, Liberia’s capital city, which meant they were unreachable to many people and communities. Over time, access increased with organisations supporting some facilities across the country. But these only lasted while the organisations were actively working in Liberia. And there were many remote and hard to reach areas in the country where there were no eye health services at all.

In the policy, we want to work towards universal health coverage. We want to focus on access and ensuring that services are closer to people and communities and that no one is left behind.

2. Increasing in-country human resources for eye health

The second priority is human resource as compared to other countries in the region, Liberia was far behind. Therefore, a policy direction outlining training was included. This involves:

• Establishing centres that train mid-level staff
• Ensuring there is an equitable distribution of health care workers across the country
• Introducing approaches to motivate and encourage health care workers to work in the hardest to reach areas of the country

The work already done has led to great improvements. For example, the health system now employs cataract surgeons based in the country.

3. Creating a resilient infrastructure

The policy also provided a strategic direction on the need for the right infrastructure to be in place and for appropriate equipment is available to provide good quality services. These are needed alongside data systems that can monitor the performance of the eye health services. These systems will also help us to understand if services are impacting the prevalence of visual impairment and provide the evidence needed to design future programmes, use for advocacy and mobilise resources.

4. Aligning to global goals and policies

We have also made sure that the policy considered key global principles. For example, the equity and inclusion of marginalised groups, people with disabilities, people from a low socio-economic backgrounds and other marginalised groups. There are also policy statements on eye health facilities being climate and environment-friendly to reduce the impact of eye health services on climate and the environment.

The ultimate goal

Through the Ministry of Health and the National Eye Health programme, the government of Liberia was the main driver that led the policy development process. Extensive consultations were held through the technical working group to ensure the buy-in of all stakeholders. This would ensure a coordinated approach in the implementation of the policy document.

Using the policy, stakeholders and development partners can work on different aspects and activities concurrently. And before we know it, the entire country has a resilient health system that furthers the attainment of universal health coverage – this is the ultimate goal!

Sightsavers’ eye health work in Liberia is funded by Irish Aid. About Sightsavers and Irish Aid