Resource Type: Brief
Authors: Jenna Wright
Published: July 2015

Resource Description:

An Essential Package of Health Services (EPHS) can be defined as the package of services that the government is providing or is aspiring to provide to its citizens in an equitable manner.

This country snapshot is one in a series of 24 snapshots looking at the governance dimensions of Essential Packages of Health Services in the Ending Preventable Child and Maternal Death priority countries. The snapshot explores several important dimensions of the EPHS in the country, such as how government policies contribute to the service coverage, population coverage, and financial coverage of the package.

The government of the Republic of Liberia published its EPHS in the National Health and Social Welfare Policy and Plan 2011–2021 and the accompanying policy document Essential Package of Health Services, Phase One (2011). The EPHS is clearly defined by specific health interventions and by service delivery level.

According to the National Health and Social Welfare Policy and Plan 2011–2021, Phase One builds upon the country’s prior Basic Package of Health Services (developed in 2007), and places an increased emphasis on maternal and child health services, adolescent health services, emergency services, and communicable diseases control. Phase One originally was intended to cover 2011–2013, after which Phase Two would expand the EPHS to include chronic disease care such as for reproductive cancers, noncommunicable diseases, and tropical diseases. At the time of drafting this report, an updated document for Phase Two has not been published.