7 countries with the best healthcare systems in Africa
We are all familiar with the sayinghealth is wealth. It is undoubtedly one of the most underrated sayings in the world. But that’s only until someone falls ill and needs medical attention.
And we all need medical attention by the way. That’s exactly why the topic of quality healthcare systems is an important one.
Across Africa, healthcare systems are generally sub-standard compared to other parts of the world. Little wonder millions of Africans prefer to seek medical attention abroad, in what has best been described as medical tourism.
It’s important to stress that one of the most unfortunate things about medical tourism by Africans is the capital flight aspect that comes with with it. And just to show you how serious this problem can be, a recent balance of payment data by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) shows that Nigerians spent a total of $11.01 billion on medical tourism over the past 10-11 years.
Now, the fact that millions of Africans prefer to seek medical treatment abroad does not mean Africa’s heath care sector is totally in shambles. However, some African countries have better heath care systems than others. Soon, we shall be focusing on seven of such African countries with the best health care systems. This is based on Numbeo’s health care index.
Do note that Numbeo defines the health care index as “an estimation of the overall quality of the health care system, health care professionals, equipment, staff, doctors, cost, etc.”
Below are 7 African countries with the best health care systems, based on the aforementioned indicators.
- South Africa: Has a health care index score of 63.97.
- Kenya: Has a health care index score of 63.40.
- Tunisia: Has a health care index score of 56.54.
- Algeria: Has a health care index score of 52.88.
- Nigeria: Has a health care index score of 48.49.
- Egypt: Has a health care index score of 47.01.
- Morocco: Has a health care index score of 46.69.