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

11873_2002 Study D2: Poverty, Informal Sector, Health and Labour
2. HEALTH
According to the Turkish constitution, everybody has right to live in a
healthy and nutrious environment and the government has to provide
physical and physiological health services for the public (no:56). For that
reason, providing a healthy environment, and financing the health services
are a constitutional responsibility of the government. The law accepted in
1930 called “General Law of Health” ensures that government should
increase the living conditions of the public, solve the problems related to
public health and provide a better environment for the future generations
(no: 1).
The responsibility of public health is belong to the ministry of health.
Ministry of health has all the authority concerning public health, and a
healthy environment. One of the main objective of this organization is to
create “a healthy individual and healthy society, an improved health system,
a protection for diseases, and a planned health system”. The headquarters of
the ministry is in the capital, Ankara, and it has sub-offices in all 81 cities of
Turkey.
In additon to the “General Law of Public Health” and “Ministry of Health
foundation Law” there are more than 30 laws concerning health issues in
Turkey. Also, there are considerable amount of governmental decisions
regardin health problems.
The definition of health in Turkey generally is taken from the World Heatlh
Organization. Within this context, Nusret Fisek (1983:1) has defined the
heatlh as “health is not only to have a body without any physical desease,
but also it is mentally and socially the case of goodness.” However, in
practice health is considered as a goodness in terms of physical body
(Medicana: 379-380).
The main indicators in Health Sector in Turkey and some projections for
2005 as follow:
FONDAZIONE CENSIS
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