Mauritius

The Constitution does not include a right to health.

There are no specific provisions regarding the mandate for health matters. Article 45 of the Constitution generally provides that Parliament may make laws for the peace, order and good government of Mauritius. Under article 31, the Parliament consists of the President and a National Assembly.

No current national health policy was located in the country.

The main goal of the "Health Sector Strategic Plan 2020-2024" is to ensure the enhancement of health sector development in the Republic of Mauritius , including Rodrigues and the Outer Islands, in order to further improve positive health outcomes for the individual, the family, the community and the economy at large (page 36). Specific objectives include reorienting and strengthening primary health care services; improving quality of care and efficiency at all levels of care and strengthen evidence-based decision making; responding to the health care needs of the population and ensuring a patient centric approach; refocussing expenditure on health promotion and PHC services; accelerating progress towards SDG 3; strengthening results based approach for efficient management of human resources and healthcare technology.

The plan identifies 21 strategic goals, including to enhance access to quality healthcare services, improve health outcomes through community empowerment, strengthen hospital and allied services, ensure quality healthcare, reduce the burden of non-communicable diseases, promote mental health, address substance use and addiction, sustain surveillance and response for communicable diseases, improve health across the life course, enhance emergency preparedness, promote occupational health, strengthen health information systems and research, ensure sustainable healthcare financing, foster intersectoral collaboration, nurture good governance, and support the development of medical travel tourism. (pages 35-78).

The plan outlines specific actions related to laws and regulations across the strategic goals identified. For instance, it emphasizes the need to reinforce legislation on infection prevention and control measures and strengthen regulatory capacity for the provision of high quality services (strategic goal 4, page 42), enforce the public health regulation on tobacco and alcohol (strategic goal 5, page 44), review COVD 19 legislation (strategic goal 8, page 49), guarantee through legislation the provision of comprehensive sexual and reproductive HIEC services to adolescents (strategic goal 10, page 5), strengthen legislation for improving access to ante natal and post pregnancy child care and on domestic violence (strategic goal 11, page xviii, page 56), the review of laws to improve access to SRH/FP services (strategic goal 12, page 58), require by law mandatory reporting of immunization performance in the private sector (strategic goal 13, page 59), the review and update of legislation for health security and the implementation of the International Health Regulations (strategic goal 16, page xix, page 62), the review of the legal framework for data collection and management and collection of data from the private sector (strategic goal 18,page xix, page 66), the review and update of existing legislation governing human resources for health (e.g. Medical Council Act 1999, Pharmacy Council Act 2015, Nursing Council Act 2003, Allied health Professional Council Act 2017, Dental Council Act 1999) (strategic goals 20, page 69), the strengthening of the regulatory framework for health product (strategic goal 21, page 71), the review of existing legislation on food safety for compliance with the Codex Alimentarius and the IHR (strategic goal 22, page 73), the review of outdated legislation to develop new ones in response to emerging health and medical challenges (strategic goal 25, page 76), the reinforcement of the legal framework to conduct clinical trials (strategic goal 26; page xxii, page 78).