Cooperating to improve healthcare in Arab countries

Abstract

This brief note presents a few examples of successful health collaboration to improve healthcare in Arab countries. Considerable growth has been noticed in the past years in the health sector of the Middle East and North Africa region countries due to the need to address health service capacity gaps and improve the quality of health infrastructure. The rising population coupled with the aging demographic is expected to drive healthcare demand in the Arab region, augmenting its demand. In order to meet this demand, a lot of progress within the public sector has been made and several initiatives have taken place to create awareness of the most common diseases affecting the region. Among the steps undertaken in order to face the shortage of experience of medical personnel and the rising cost of the delivery of health services, the most noticeable ones relate to major investments within the realm of healthcare provision. However, country-specific drivers of disease burden should inform financial and research investments, prevention efforts, health policies, and health system improvement initiatives for all countries along the development continuum. Moreover, health gains will need to be sustained by supporting interventions on income, education, and fertility as drivers of health improvement.