ArticlePloS one2023
Has the COVID-19 pandemic changed the utilization and provision of essential health care services from 2019 to 2020 in the primary health care network in Lebanon? Results from a nationwide representative cross-sectional survey.
Article in PloS one, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 16 citations in OpenAlex.
- Primary care and care continuity in the context of a health crisis: lessons learned from the Brazilian reality.BMC primary care · 2026Article
- Maximizing older people's access to primary health care centers in Lebanon: a co-design approach.Health promotion international · 2025Article
- Healthcare delivery in Lebanon: a critical scoping review of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.BMC health services research · 2024Article
- Lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic to strengthen NCD care and policy in humanitarian settings: a mixed methods study exploring humanitarian actors' experiences.BMC health services research · 2024Article
- COVID-19 herd immunity in Lebanon: Challenges and prospects.Public health challenges · 2024Article
- Barriers, facilitators and proposed solutions to equitable mental health financing and service delivery for the Lebanese populations and displaced Syrians in Lebanon: Findings from a qualitative study.PLOS global public health · 2024Article
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 4 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
There is limited research soliciting the patient and staff perspectives on the overall effects of COVID-19 on the utilization and provision of primary care in Lebanon. The present study was part of a larger study on the overall effect of COVID-19 on both utilization and provision of essential health care services within the Lebanese primary health care network (PHCN). Here, we present the patient and staff perspectives on continuity of service provision, adherence to infection prevention and control measures, and the role of the PHCN in epidemic preparedness and response. We conducted a cross-sectional survey between June and July 2021 among patients who had received a health care service in 2019 or 2020 from registered primary healthcare centers (PHCs) in the network and among the respective PHC staff working during the same period. A total of 763 patients and 198 staff completed the surveys. Services were reported as interrupted by 15% of the total patients who used services either in 2020 only or in both 2019 and 2020. Access to chronic (67%) and acute medications (40%) were reported as the main interrupted services. Immunization also emerged as a foregone service in 2020. Among the staff, one third (33%) reported interruptions in the provision of services. Financial barriers rather than fear of COVID-19 were reported as main reasons for interruption. Both groups considered that the facilities implemented adequate infection prevention and control measures. They perceived that the PHCN maintained some essential healthcare services and that it should have played a bigger role in the response to the pandemic. There was a continuity in utilization and provision of services in the PHCN that was higher than expected, with non-communicable diseases and immunizations suffering more than other services.
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