Restoring and/or maintaining access to essential lifesaving services is central in all humanitarian health response strategies. Progress toward Universal Health Coverage (UHC) is based on expanding the coverage and scope of an Essential Package of Health Services, with sustainable financing, including specific attention for the most vulnerable, and ‘leaving no-one behind’.

While standards can be set when designing the content of an EPHS, it needs to be understood that the concept of the package is not a static one. Its content, implementation modalities and costing need to be adapted to the different contexts that often co-exist in the same country.

Taking into account that key features of crises and available resources often change over time, any guidance for EPHS should be flexible and revisited to adapt to the changes. The Global Health Cluster Task Team on Essential Package of Health Services has developed a working paper that proposes a six step process to develop, implement, and monitor an EPHS in such settings.