Beirut, June, 2026 – Transparency International – Lebanon (TI-LB) welcomes the launch of the Ministry of Public Health’s Digital Response Platform as an important step toward strengthening transparency, coordination, and evidence-based decision-making during the ongoing crisis.
The platform provides a centralized overview of the health response by consolidating information on healthcare needs, service delivery, facility capacity, casualties, and attacks on healthcare infrastructure. While the platform represents a significant advancement in monitoring healthcare services and response activities, additional measures are needed to strengthen transparency and traceability of medical aid flows and progressively align reporting practices with internationally recognized aid transparency standards, including those promoted by the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI).
Strengths of the Current Platform
- Comprehensive Health Response Data
The platform brings together key information related to healthcare needs and response efforts, providing stakeholders with a clearer understanding of the evolving humanitarian situation and the capacity of the health sector to respond.
- Detailed Geographic Coverage
Data is disaggregated by governorate, healthcare facility, primary healthcare center (PHCC), shelter, and type of service, allowing for a more detailed understanding of needs and interventions across different regions.
- Improved Coordination and Visibility
The identification of healthcare facilities, shelters, supporting entities, and focal points contributes to greater visibility of response efforts and facilitates coordination among stakeholders involved in the healthcare response.
- Broad Public Health Scope
The platform incorporates indicators covering emergency care, chronic disease management, reproductive health, vaccination, nutrition, and mental health, reflecting the diverse healthcare
needs generated by the crisis.
- From Health Response Monitoring to Medical Aid Transparency
It is important to note that the current platform primarily serves as a health response monitoring tool, providing valuable information on healthcare needs, service delivery, and system capacity. While this represents an important contribution to transparency and coordination, the platform is not yet designed as a medical aid transparency and traceability tool. As a result, information related to aid flows, funding sources, allocation decisions, and distribution pathways remains limited.
Building on the platform’s existing strengths by integrating these elements would bring it closer to international good practices for aid transparency, including those promoted by the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI), the leading global standard for publishing information on aid flows and development assistance.
Key Areas for Strengthening:
- Increase Transparency of Medical Aid Flows
The platform currently focuses on healthcare services and operational response indicators. Expanding its scope to include information on medical aid received, allocated, and distributed would strengthen transparency and public oversight.
- Disclose Donors and Contributions
Information on donors, funding sources, and in-kind medical assistance is not currently available. Publishing such information would improve accountability and allow stakeholders to better track the origin and destination of resources.
- Publish Allocation Criteria
Providing information on the methodologies used to allocate medical aid, including needs assessments and prioritization criteria, would strengthen confidence in the fairness and effectiveness of distribution processes.
- Standardize Quantities and Reporting Units
The systematic disclosure of quantities, values, and units of measurement using standardized reporting formats would improve comparability, traceability, and consistency of data across interventions.
- Track the Receipt and Distribution of Aid
Publishing the dates on which medical aid is received and subsequently distributed would enhance traceability and allow stakeholders to assess the timeliness of aid delivery.
- Strengthen Verification and Accountability Mechanisms
Introducing verification procedures, audit mechanisms, and accessible complaint channels would help validate aid distribution and provide beneficiaries with avenues to report concerns or discrepancies.
Towards Greater Transparency and Accountability:
The Ministry of Public Health’s Digital Response Platform demonstrates a commitment to improving transparency and coordination of the healthcare response. Aligning the platform with key principles promoted by the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI), including disclosure of funding sources, aid flows, allocation methodologies, timeliness of reporting, and traceability of assistance, would further strengthen accountability, improve coordination among stakeholders, and reinforce public trust.
