Essential Package of Health Services for Universal Health Coverage, Liberia 2022

Author: Ministry of Health of Liberia

The process of developing the EPHS for UHC was initiated in November 2021 as part of the Ministry of Health collaboration with the Disease Control Priorities (DCP3) Country Translation project, based at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. DCP3 provided technical assistance and capacity building in the areas of priority setting and decision making on resource allocation, and development of an Essential Package of Health Services (EPHS) that supports key principles of Universal Health Coverage (UHC). The DCP3 evidence and model UHC packages were used to guide the development of an evidence-informed package of high-impact interventions, which is feasible and implementable within the available fiscal space. 

The development of the EPHS for UHC is an important step towards achieving the UHC target in Liberia. The package defines a set of interventions to be delivered at primary, secondary and tertiary care levels, and it is expected to address a major share of the burden of disease affecting the Liberia population, particularly the most vulnerable. It seeks to respond to the three dimensions of UHC: expanding health service coverage to include all population groups, providing access to a broader range of priority services, and protecting the population against financial risk by reducing out-of-pocket expenditure. 

The package was developed through a participatory process that included MOH staff, county health representatives, DCP3 experts, UN agencies, development partners, and non-governmental organizations. Frequent appraisal and feedback from all parties was sought, with the active involvement and deliberation of all stakeholders helping to shape the prioritization process and the content of the final package.