Bumpy road to universal care
Morocco embarked on a plan to introduce universal health care in 2002. While the road has been long and arduous, it has yielded results. Life expectancy in Morocco is high, and key indicators have steadily improved. Infant mortality, for example, was cut in half from 42 death per 1 000 live births in 2000 to 20 in 2017.
The most recent drive to expand health coverage takes the form of a five-year strategy, from 2017 to 2021, that calls for improving hospital resources, expanding medical coverage to the self-employed or those in liberal professions, increasing the number of health-sector employees and standardising the education received by medical students in Morocco.
The government has put hard cash behind its plans. Government spending on health rose 10% in nominal terms in 2019, while overall investment in health care, in the public and private sector, increased 40%, according to Oxford Business Group.
The reality, however, is that health care, particularly primary care, remains elusive for many Moroccans. While United Nations Sustainability Development Goal 3 calls for universal access to at least basic health care, many Moroccans don’t have access, either because they live in rural areas or because they aren’t covered by the public insurance system, RAMED.
“Basically, even if on paper the poor and vulnerable have the right to have access free of charge,” Barone says, “those services face a lot of shortages in terms of structure, staff and quality.”
Now or never
Barone says that the groundswell of international support Morocco received during the pandemic could provide the momentum needed to tackle the remaining pieces to improve access to health care. “We need to take advantage of the urgency of the crisis to implement reforms that typically take much longer,” she says.
The European Investment Bank has a role to play there, too. Barone says that the Bank can help increase cooperation between the different agencies involved in Moroccan health care, providing expertise and technical support. The EU bank can also help renovate and build more hospitals, particularly in rural areas.
The European Union and Morocco are working on a new cooperation agenda for 2021-2027, which could also provide new momentum for reforms. “It could be a huge opportunity to set priorities to relaunch the economy and support society, making improved health care a central pillar of the country’s recovery,” Barone says.