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COUNTRY CONTEXT
The Republic of Mauritius is an island country of 1.2 million inhabitants located in the Indian Ocean, about 2,000 km off the East Coast of Africa. It includes the main island of Mauritius, as well as Rodrigues, Agalega, St Brandon, the Chagos Archipelago and Tromelin. The domestic economy was heavily hit by COVID-19, registering a contraction of 14.5% in 2020. This resulted in Mauritius being downgraded from High Income to Upper Middle-Income status. The country has since made great strides, with GDP growth of 3.4% and 8.9% in 2021 and 2022, respectively, while GDP per capita amounted to USD10,256 in 2022. Mauritius continues to maintain its high human development index status (HDI value of 0.796 in 2022) since 2010 ranking 72nd globally.
Mauritius boasts a welfare state providing free access to health services at points of care delivery, including advanced medical procedures such as cardiothoracic surgery and renal transplants. The country maintains a robust health system which is reflected in a high universal health coverage index of 66 in 2021 (against 68 globally, and 44 in Africa). Service capacity and access, one of the sub-indices of UHC, was as high as 78 while that related to noncommunicable diseases was 61. Achievements over the last decades include a rising life expectancy of 74.4 years-old at birth as of 20221 (although healthy life expectancy is 63 years-old), the elimination of malaria and an immunization coverage rate of over 90%.
The Mauritian health system continues, however, to face significant challenges. The growing burden of noncommunicable diseases, including cardiovascular and bronchopulmonary diseases, diabetes and cancer, remains the first cause of premature deaths in the country due to the high prevalence of unhealthy behaviours and risk factors linked to the consumption of tobacco, alcohol, drugs, unhealthy food, limited physical exercise and environmental exposure.
Communicable diseases such as dengue are resurging with the increasing movement of people and goods across borders and the effects of climate and environmental changes. Other challenges, such as an ageing population, rising expectations of patients for state-of-the-art health care and increasing health care costs, require continued efforts, investments and health system adaptation.