At the end of April, the imposition of rules on guaranteed renewability (GR) in health insurance was introduced to the public under ministerial decree 186, issued by the Ministry of Economy and Trade (MoET). Executive sat down with Nadine Habbal, who heads the MoET’s Insurance Control Commission (ICC), to explore the implications of GR for…
Health entrepreneurship in Lebanon
When it comes to health, Lebanon is one of the leading countries in the Arab world in terms of the quality of healthcare provided and in testing new medical technologies. The country now has the opportunity to lead the way in entrepreneurship via healthcare startups. Executive spoke with entrepreneurs in this field to see what…
Wellness and health in Lebanon: current status and potential for growth
Health and wellness have long been an integral part of Middle Eastern culture. The most common Arabic phrase used for greeting someone—keef el-sohat?—asks after a person’s health. Another common phrase used in Lebanon specifically is yatik el-afyeh (may God grant you wellness), used as a greeting but also for when someone is engaged in physical…
The impact of the refugee crisis on the Lebanese healthcare system
Many column inches have been dedicated to the Syrian conflict and the resultant refugee crisis, the impact of which has been particularly felt in neighboring countries like Lebanon. Less acknowledged but deserving of recognition is the shocking reality that Lebanon’s healthcare system has performed with surprising efficacy in coping with this crisis. The much-maligned and…
The social and economical cost of mental health in Lebanon
In Lebanon, one in four people suffer from mental illness in their lifetime, according to non-profit mental health NGO Embrace. Mental health refers to the condition of a person’s emotional or psychological well-being, in the same way that physical health refers to the condition of their body. Although the public discussion around mental health in…
Issues and concerns at the intersection of health and finance
In the opening line of American economist and public health expert Selma J. Mushkin’s paper titled “Towards a definition of health economics,” she pointed out two factors shaping the health issue: technological progress and increases in life expectancy. That was in 1958, a few years after the first wave of mass immunizations in the United…
A look into Lebanon’s healthcare
Health encapsulates economic activity that amounts to trillions of dollars by the—in this context crude—methodology of collating production of goods and services as gross domestic product (GDP). The Global Health Observatory of the World Health Organization (WHO) puts the world’s expenditure on health at $7.2 trillion (2015 estimate), or 10 percent of the world’s GDP.…