MONGABAY.COM
Mongabay.com seeks to raise interest in and appreciation of wild lands and wildlife, while examining the impact of emerging trends in climate, technology, economics, and finance on conservation and development (more)
WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
|
|
Israel
Index
In part as a legacy of the socialist thrusts of Labor Zionism,
Israelis enjoy a widely available health care system. The major
complaints of the population have focused on the heavy
bureaucratization of health care. In general, the health of the
population compares favorably with West European standards, and the
decrease in rates of infectious diseases has been very marked. The
highest incidences of disease in 1986 were bacillary dysentery, 162
per 100,000, and viral hepatitis, 75 per 100,000. There were
reportedly forty-three cases in Israel of acquired immune
deficiency syndrome, or AIDS, by the end of September 1987.
In both Arab and Jewish populations, control of sanitation also
has improved markedly since the the mid-1950s. Still, health care
delivery has been better developed for the Jewish sector than for
the Arab sector. In 1985 the life expectancy of Jewish men and
women was 73.9 and 77.3 years, respectively; for non-Jews the
figures were 72.0 (men) and 75.8 (women). Among Jews, in 1986 the
live birth rate per 1,000 was 21.2, the death rate 7.5. Among
Muslims the live birth rate per 1,000 was 33.8, the death rate 3.4.
The average number of children a woman may have during her lifetime
was 2.83 for Jews and 4.63 for Muslims. The infant mortality rate
was 9.6 for Jews and 18.0 for Muslims (see
table 4, Appendix A).
The Ministry of Health, the principal public health agency in
the country, functioned as the supreme body for licensing medical,
dental, nursing, pharmaceutical, and paramedical professions, as
well as for implementing all health-related legislation passed by
the Knesset. It also functioned when no other nongovernmental
agency was present. This fact was important in Israel because in
1985-86 the Sick Funds (Kupat Holim) contributed almost 45 percent
of the national expenditure on health; in comparison, the
government contributed only some 22 percent. Kupat Holim, the
largest sick fund, was affiliated with the Histadrut and was
supported by almost two-thirds of the Histadrut's membership dues.
As the largest medical insurance carrier in Israel, the Histadrut
fund covered about 70 percent of the population (Arabs included).
Another 20 percent was covered by the sick funds of other
organizations, which means that in general the Israeli population
was well protected by health care coverage. Further evidence of the
availability of health care was the ratio of physicians to the
general population; in the 1970s it was more than 1 to 400, one of
the highest in the world.
Data as of December 1988
|
|