Etudes par pays volume 2, PDF, 346 p., 1,4 Mo - Femise

11873_2002 Study D2: Poverty, Informal Sector, Health and Labour
the rural and poor areas. This is done through soft loans for family projects
and training programs. However, due to weak performance of some current
programs, the government adopted in 1997 a Social Productivity Program. A
minimum wage Law was approved, where the minimum wage was set at JD 80 per
month 4 .
Health
Despite the fiscal constraints, strong Government commitments to health,
education, and other social programs, have resulted in impressive social
indicators. With a literacy rate of over 80 percent and well-developed
human resource base, Jordan has compensated for its poor natural resource
endowments by exporting its surplus labor to the neighboring oil-exporting
countries. This proposed project focuses on Jordan’s health sector, a sector
with critical human and economic implications that currently accounts for
almost 8 percent of Jordan’s economy.
The Health Sector Studies highlighted that while the health system performs
relatively well in terms of overall access and outcomes, it is expensive and
inefficient, and there are geographic maldistributions of resources. Jordan
spends about 8 percent of its GDP on health care, well in excess of most
middle income and even some western industrialized countries. While
Jordan provides coverage for its poor and disabled, an estimated 20 percent
of the population lacks formal coverage, and Government financing for
health care could be better structured to increase this coverage. Lack of a
coordinated policy apparatus and relevant data for decision-making preclude
effective policy-making across Jordan’s multiple public and private
financing arrangements and delivery systems.
As a result of the expansion of the health services provided all over the
country, as well as public awareness campaigns regarding family planning,
and the increasing number of doctors and technical assistant staff, the infant
mortality rate declined from about 7.8 percent in 1973 to about 2.8 percent
in 1999. The life expectancy at birth increased, for both male and female,
from about 57.4 years for males and 59.8 years for females in 1973, to about
4 Moh’d M. Khasawneh, ‘Poverty Assessment Report: The case of Jordan’, June 2001.
FONDAZIONE CENSIS
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