The World Health Organization and the European Investment Bank's development arm have agreed to channel €10 million into Lebanon's strained public health system, in a move designed to restore critical laboratory capacity and shore up treatment for tens of thousands of people living with chronic disease.
The agreement was signed on 6 March 2025 in Luxembourg, where Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the WHO, and Thomas Östros, vice-president of EIB Global, met at the EIB Group Forum to formalize the grant. The funding is intended to help re-establish Lebanon's Central Public Health Laboratory, a key institution in the country's health infrastructure, while also prioritizing medication provision and healthcare support for more than 50,000 people affected by conditions including diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer.
The announcement comes at a time when Lebanon's health system continues to face severe pressure from economic collapse, political instability and the lingering effects of multiple crises that have strained hospitals, supply chains and public services. In that context, the restoration of a central laboratory is more than a technical upgrade. It is a foundational step toward rebuilding the country's ability to monitor disease, test samples, and support public health decision-making at a national level.
Public health laboratories are often invisible until they fail. They underpin everything from infectious disease surveillance to routine diagnostics and quality control for medicines and medical supplies. In Lebanon, where the health sector has been battered by years of financial turmoil, the loss or weakening of such capacity can ripple far beyond one institution, affecting hospitals, clinics and patients across the country. Re-establishing the Central Public Health Laboratory is therefore likely to have significance well beyond its walls, helping restore a core public health function that supports both emergency response and everyday care.
The grant also targets a second, equally urgent challenge: the treatment of chronic disease. Noncommunicable illnesses such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer require uninterrupted access to medication, monitoring and follow-up care. In a country where many households have seen incomes eroded and health costs rise, even basic treatment can become inaccessible. By prioritizing medication provision and healthcare support for more than 50,000 people, the initiative aims to reduce the risk that patients will be forced to delay treatment, skip doses or go without care altogether.
That focus reflects a broader reality across the region and beyond: climate and energy shocks, economic instability and conflict can quickly become health crises when they disrupt supply chains, damage infrastructure or weaken state institutions. While the grant is not framed as a climate project in the narrow sense, it sits squarely within the wider resilience agenda that increasingly links public health, infrastructure and social stability. Stronger health systems are better able to withstand shocks, whether they come from disease outbreaks, financial stress or environmental pressures.
For the WHO, the agreement reinforces its role in helping countries preserve essential health services under extreme strain. For EIB Global, the deal adds to its development finance footprint in a country where rebuilding public institutions remains a central challenge. The partnership also underscores the importance of multilateral cooperation at a time when Lebanon's needs are vast and domestic resources remain limited.
The €10 million grant will not solve Lebanon's health crisis on its own. But it is a targeted intervention aimed at one of the system's most vulnerable points: the ability to diagnose, monitor and treat disease consistently. In a country where public health has been repeatedly tested, the restoration of laboratory capacity and support for chronic care may prove to be a practical and symbolic step toward recovery. The challenge now will be turning the agreement into functioning services that patients can rely on, not just in the short term, but as part of a longer rebuilding effort.