Tripoli 27 December 2018 – A 2017 service availability and readiness assessment survey found general low availability (41%) of essential medicines in Libyan hospitals, and extremely low availability (10%) in primary health care facilities and pharmacies (13%).

To bolster medicines supply planning in Libya and improve access to safe, effective and affordable medicines the EU-supported SHAMS project is providing training on medicines forecasting and quantification to health workers across the country.

The aim of the training is to equip health workers responsible for forecasting and quantification with the necessary skills and knowledge and familiarize them with the Libyan Essential Medicines List (EML), which will henceforth form the basis for medicines selection in Libya.

Training has been divided into phases and covers health facilities across the country. The first phase covers 10 hospitals, 7 polyclinics, 63 primary health care facilities and 54 public health units in six municipalities - Hay Alandalus and Janzour municipalities in the west of Libya, Al-Bayda and Tobruk municipalities in the eastern and Sabha and Adiri municipalities in the southern region.

The training workshop for the western region opened in Tripoli on 22 December 2018.

In his opening address Dr Khalid Mhrij Issa, the new Director of the Pharmacy Administration, noted it was his first official engagement since taking office. He thanked WHO Libya for its support of the Pharmacy Administration in particular, and the health sector in Libya in general. He said the Ministry of Health would continue to require the support of WHO in the years ahead and expressed his appreciation for the participants and facilitators who were sacrificing a well-deserved public holiday to take part in the training.

From Tripoli the team of facilitators moved to the eastern region to conduct training workshops in Tobruk on 25 and 26 December. The same workshops are scheduled for Al-Bayda municipality on 29 and 30 December and will be held in the southern municipalities of Sabha and Wadi Shati between 8 and 10 January 2019.