Lebanon’s National Lifeline is a hotline, operated by Embrace in collaboration with the National Mental Health Program (NMHP) at the Ministry of Public Health and WHO. The Lifeline is an anonymous service for people who might be in emotional distress or thinking of suicide.
In 2024, WHO commissioned an evaluation of the Lifeline in order to assess it against the following evaluation criteria: relevance, reach, efficiency, effectiveness, adherence, sustainability, impact, and lessons learned.
Overall, the objectives of this evaluation are to assess and identify:
- the Lifeline’s effectiveness as a suicide prevention intervention and in improving mental health outcomes for callers;
- the strengths and weaknesses in the Lifeline’s operations regarding human resources, financing, management, and communication;
- impeding and facilitating factors in the current Lebanese context for the optimal implementation of the Lifeline’s Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and procedures; and,
- recommendations to improve the Lifeline’s operations and ensure its sustainability.
This evaluation therefore aims to both review and assess past and current operations, while also identifying practical recommendations for improvement in the future. It is expected that findings will inform current and future operations for Embrace, WHO and the NMHP. It will also be relevant for the AFD, as a Lifeline funder, as well as for all MHPSS actors active in Lebanon and globally, including other crisis hotline operators.
