Health

The largest country in the Arab world, Egypt has wellestablished medical facilities. However, the health sector faces significant challenges in caring for a rapidly growing population using a system beset by structural weaknesses, against a backdrop of political upheaval and economic insecurity. With public funds limited, an increasing role for the private sector looks likely...

Access to free medical treatment is a constitutional right in South Africa, but though the government has devoted at least 12% of its budget to health care annually since 2010, the Department of Health (DoH) itself has characterised the system as “inequitable, with the privileged few having disproportionate access to health services”. Total per capita health spending –...

The continent’s largest drugs market, South Africa has a well-established pharmaceuticals manufacturing base that contributes 1.6% to GDP and employs 9600 people directly, and another 11,100 indirectly. Since 2009 pharmaceuticals spending has risen by a compound annual growth rate of 10%, from $3.01bn to a projected $4.9bn in 2014, according to sector information,...

Ample resources are invested in South Africa’s education sector, which ranks among the best on the continent. The state spends approximately one-fifth of its budget annually on education and training – R254bn ($24.1bn) was allocated in 2014 – and it has nearly managed to achieve the goal of universal primary school enrolment that has remained so elusive elsewhere in sub-...