Health in the Central African Republic

Mothers with their babies and children queued at a health clinic in Begoua, a district of Bangui, waiting for oral polio vaccine Picture from 2008. Despite progress over the past few years, medical care remains both costly and inaccessible for many families across the Central African Republic. Vaccination rates for preventable diseases stand at less than 52%, and one child in eight does not live past five years of age.[1]

Health in the Central African Republic has been degraded by years of internal conflict and economic turmoil since independence from France in 1960. One sixth of the country's population is in need of acute medical care. Endemic diseases put a high demand on the health infrastructure, which requires outside assistance to sustain itself.[2][3]

The Human Rights Measurement Initiative[4] has found that the Central African Republic is fulfilling 65.7% of its national obligations regarding the right to health based on its income levels.[5] When looking at the right to health with respect to children, the Central African Republic achieves 92.1% of what is expected based on its current income.[6] In regards to the right to health amongst the adult population, the country achieves only 75.2% of what is similarly expected. [7] The Central African Republic falls into the "very bad" category when evaluating the right to reproductive health; the nation is fulfilling only 29.8% of what is expected based on the resources (income) it has available.[8]

  1. ^ Roser, Max; Ritchie, Hannah; Dadonaite, Bernadeta (10 May 2013). "Child and Infant Mortality". Our World in Data. Retrieved 13 January 2021.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference CRC was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference iuonoa was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ "Human Rights Measurement Initiative – The first global initiative to track the human rights performance of countries". humanrightsmeasurement.org. Retrieved 2022-03-15.
  5. ^ "Central African Republic - HRMI Rights Tracker". rightstracker.org. Retrieved 2022-03-15.
  6. ^ "Central African Republic - HRMI Rights Tracker". rightstracker.org. Retrieved 2022-03-15.
  7. ^ "Central African Republic - HRMI Rights Tracker". rightstracker.org. Retrieved 2022-03-15.
  8. ^ "Central African Republic - HRMI Rights Tracker". rightstracker.org. Retrieved 2022-03-15.