Trends in Health Financing and the Private Health Sector in the Middle East and North Africa
Though health data from the region are scarce and outdated, available information on key health indicators shows significant improvements in recent decades. Life expectancy is rising, maternal and infant mortality are declining, and health coverage is increasing to varying degrees in all countries. The Middle East and North Africa region is experiencing an epidemiological transition from a high burden of communicable disease to an increasing burden of noncommunicable disease, although the timing and pace of this transition varies by country. Noncommunicable diseases, mainly cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, and cancers, account for 60 percent of the disease burden and over half of premature deaths across the region (WHO 2016a). Moreover, ongoing wars in Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Yemen have created new health challenges that threaten to reverse the health advances of recent decades. In these countries, the burden of noncommunicable diseases is compounded by limited access to health services, destruction of health infrastructure, conflict-related injuries, and outbreaks of infectious diseases. The aforementioned conflicts—particularly the civil war in Syria—have created regional refugee crises that are straining the health systems of host countries, mainly Jordan and Lebanon.
The response to increasingly complex health and security challenges in the region requires an emphasis on well-functioning national health systems that provide equitable, affordable, and quality health services to all citizens, refugees, and displaced people. Developing effective health financing mechanisms for citizens and displaced people of all income levels and harnessing the private health sector’s strengths and potential contributions to complement overstretched public resources are key strategies to strengthen health systems and deliver an impactful response. Effective health systems are essential not only to improving health outcomes but also to fostering regional stability and security.
To understand current health financing policies and mechanisms, as well as the current role of the private sector in the health systems of the Middle East, the USAID Middle East Regional Bureau commissioned the Sustaining Health Outcomes through the Private Sector (SHOPS) Plus and Health Finance and Governance (HFG) projects to conduct a review of health financing and the private health sector in the 11 low- and middle-income countries in the region, focusing on the years 2008 to 2017. The countries included in this analysis are Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Syria, Tunisia, the West Bank and Gaza, and Yemen. This review aims to highlight regional trends and identify gaps in information.
Source: USAID
Year: 2018
