Mauritania

The Constitution does not include a right to health. However article 19 refers to the rights of citizens to sustainable development and to an environment that is respectful of health.

The government is tasked to implement the general policy of the State in accordance with the orientations provided by the President. The legislative power belongs to the Parliament (art. 45 and 56). Matters to be addressed by law are specified under article 57 of the Constitution and include, among other things, the general rules regarding education and health .

The "Politique Nationale de Santé à l’horizon 2030" aims to provide universal access to essential quality health services and financial protection against health-related risks for all citizens of Mauritania, guiding health actions and optimizing resource use to improve the population's health status from 2017 to 2030 (Page 3).

The document identifies four areas for priority action: strengthening health governance and leadership; improving maternal, newborn, child, adolescent, and youth health; controlling communicable and non-communicable diseases; and strengthening the health system through human resource development, infrastructure improvement, and ensuring the availability of quality medicines and medical supplies (Pages 23-30).

In the situational analysis section, the Policy outlines legal and regulatory gaps re hospitals and referral systems (page 9), health information system and intra and intersectoral coordination (page 11). The policy also highlights challenges in the implementation of existing legislation including the International Health Regulations (page 9), institutional and organizational arrangements (page 11), penalties and incentives for the health workforce (page 14)

The policy references several interventions areas for laws and regulations including: to define the criteria for allocating and using international and external financial resources (page 24), to define intra- and inter-sectoral coordination mechanisms (e.g. with technical and financial partners) (page 24), to further enhance the implementation of existing texts (page 24), to give legal identity to peripheral health facilities (page 25), to delegate technical tasks for preventing and treating common pathologies (page 25), to prescribe mandatory community participation (page 26). The Policy generally outlines the need to invest in implementation of regulations (page 24).

The main goal of the "Plan National de Développement Sanitaire (PNDS) 2021-2030" is to sustainably improve the health status of the Mauritanian population through a primary health care approach that ensures equitable access to quality promotional, preventive, curative, palliative, and rehabilitative services, with active participation from all sectors and empowered communities (Pages 50-51).

The Plan National de Développement Sanitaire (PNDS) 2021-2030 prioritizes reducing maternal, neonatal, and child mortality, strengthening disease control, enhancing health security and emergency preparedness, and improving the overall health system through better governance, financing, human resources, infrastructure, and access to essential medicines and health products.

The plan references several legal and regulatory actions including, among other things, developing an enabling legal framework for adolescents and youth health (page 58), developing a bill on gender (page 59), developing a legal environment protecting the rights of people with HIV and vulnerable groups against discrimination (page 66), developing laws and regulations to implement the Framework Convention on tobacco Control (page 71) and to reduce the number of road traffic crashes (pages 74-75), developing a pandemic law (page 77), strengthening the legal framework for the management of biomedical waste (page 79), strengthening medical and pharmaceutical legislation including adopting a hospital law (pages 80, 89), developing a legal framework for public private partnership in the health sector (page 83), developing regulations for the operation and management of the data from the national health information system (page 91), developing legislation for digital health (page 94).