Health inequity and territorial disparity in children’s health in Arab countries

Arab countries are characterised by huge differences in terms of economic status, health indicators and human development in general. While it is proven that good nutrition and health in early childhood constitute crucial determinants for good health and wellbeing in adulthood, in many Arab countries, children are suffering from malnutrition, insufficient coverage of vaccination and high infant mortality. The analysis carried out in this paper is based on recent data (2014-2024) provided by well known surveys regularly and worldwide conducted by UNICEF (Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys), USAID (Demographic Health Surveys) and the Pan Arab Project for Family Health (PAPFAM). Illustrative figures, absolute differences (gaps), relative differences (ratios) and the Index of Dissimilarity (ID) are used to compare different Arab countries for which data are available. Huge gaps are seen between and within Arab countries in terms of vaccination, nutritional status, infant mortality and teenage childbearing. Although it is proven that immunisation is an efficient tool to counteract infections and life-threatening diseases, some Arab countries are far from achieving full vaccination of children. Moreover, within Arab countries, vaccination shows large gaps by socioeconomic characteristics like milieu of residence, income quintiles and mother’s education. Similar disparities are seen between and within Arab countries in terms of nutritional status, infant mortality and teenage childbearing. In general, the rate of reduction of health inequalities during the last decades was slow in the majority of Arab countries. Knowing that many Arab countries are struggling to reach the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, health decision makers in Arab countries are challenged by heath inequities and territorial disparities for the whole population and especially for children. They should invest more in this sensitive field by adopting efficient strategies and pragmatic actions.

Abdesslam Boutayeb obtained his PhD in Numerical Analysis from Brunel University, UK in 1990. His main research fields are in numerical analysis, mathematical modelling and health equity. He has edited 16 books and published around 120 papers, 50 chapters in books and 15 conference papers. As a consultant with the World Health Organization (WHO), he has also written 7 reports on public health, health equity and SDH. He is currently an honorary Professor and Visiting Professor at EAU, Dubai, UAE. He appeared in the list World top 2% researcher/Stanford University/Elsevier Scopus 2021-2025.