Health in Jordan

Life in Jordan has many good points when it comes to health. In 2021, people in Jordan could expect to live about 74 years. Almost everyone, 99%, has clean water and places to keep waste, even though Jordan doesn't have a lot of water. There are also enough doctors, with 203 for every 100,000 people, which is similar to many wealthy countries.

Jordan has done well in fighting some diseases. Since 2001, Jordan has been free of a disease called malaria. Cases of tuberculosis, a serious lung illness, have dropped by half since the 1990s, though it is still a problem. In 2006, Jordan had a short outbreak of bird flu. Like many places, Jordan also deals with noncommunicable diseases such as cancer.

Children in Jordan are getting better health care. Over the past 15 years, more children have been protected from diseases through immunizations and vaccines. By 2002, more than 95% of children under five had these protections.

Overall, Jordan is doing a good job with health for its level of resources. It meets most of what is expected for children and adults, though there is still work to do, especially in reproductive health.

Health care

Jordan has a strong health care system, but most services are located in Amman. The government spent about 7.5 percent of its money on health in 2002, and some groups say it was even more, around 9.3 percent.

Jordan’s health care has both public and private parts. The public side includes many health centers and hospitals run by the Ministry of Health, plus some hospitals run by the military and a university hospital. The private side also has many hospitals, making up a big part of all hospital beds in the country.

Electronic health records

In 2009, the government of Jordan decided to improve its healthcare system by creating a national electronic health record system. They chose a system used by the US Veterans Health Administration VistA EHR because it was proven to work well for large countries. In 2010, three big hospitals in Jordan started using this system. The plan was to roll it out quickly and cheaply to many more hospitals and clinics across the country.

In 2007, about 70% of people in Jordan had health insurance. The government wanted to reach 100% by 2011, but by 2017, this goal had not been met and coverage was still around 70%.

The King Hussein Cancer Center is the only center in the Middle East that specializes in treating cancer. It is known as one of the best cancer treatment centers in the world and treats patients from many countries.

See also Electronic health record

Medical Tourism

In 2008, around 250,000 people from other countries, such as Iraq, Palestine, Sudan, Syria, and the United States, went to Jordan for medical care. Jordan made more than one billion dollars from this in 2008.

Jordan has become a popular place for people to get medical treatment. In 2007, over 250,000 patients from other countries chose Jordan for their care. Costs in Jordan can be much lower than in places like the United States. The World Bank said Jordan was the best place for medical tourism in the Middle East and North Africa, ahead of Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Israel.