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Index / Health
   Turkey /
Health
Turkey is only ranked 8 among 22 MENA countries. For factors like life expectancy and child mortality, Turkey scores even lower. But Turkey has positive rankings for number of hospital beds, and has an impressive 34 internationally accredited institutions. The combination of a high number of hospital beds, a fairly low doctor denisty and many high-quality hospitals, illustrates that Turkey is a country with uneven standards and unequal access to services.
Health care
Health care is centralized and run by the Ministry of Health. There are also institutions run by universities and the military. State-run hospitals have since long suffered from insufficient capacity and often inadequate quality.
A major reform was launched 2003, to increase the number of private institutions to allow wider access to the health services.
Only few have health insurances, and most coming to private institutions pay full price out-of-pocket.
Health centres are dispersed all around the country, but rural areas largely have insufficient services. Critical services can only be provided in larger cities.
Health conditions and diseases
Among the major health challenges and causes of death are infectious and parasitic diseases; cancer; heart disease; and cerebrovascular diseases. Diseases that have been strongly redced due to improved water and sanitation conditions are measles; pertussis; typhoid fever; and diphtheria.
Figures of 2006 from WHO show that 97% have good access to clean water, 88% access to good sanitation. For sanitation there is a major difference between countryside and towns, 72% to 94%.
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