Iraq's Legal Framework for the Right to Health Care

In 1989, health care reached approximately 97 per cent of the urban and 79 per cent of the rural population in the Republic of Iraq. However, in 2005 out-of-pocket health expenditure as a percentage of total expenditure on health reached 98.3 per cent. In 2005 the Government of Iraq also adopted a new constitution, which grants the right to health care to all citizens. Since the adoption of the Constitution in 2005, out-of-pocket health expenditure decreased by 80 per cent in 2011 and markig it at 39.73 per cent as of 2015.

Article 30 of the 2005 Constitution states that “[t]he State shall guarantee social and health security to Iraqis in cases of old age, sickness, employment disability, homelessness, orphanhood, or unemployment; shall work to protect them from ignorance, fear and poverty, and shall provide them housing and special programs of care and rehabilitation, and this shall be regulated by law”. Article 31 further stipulates that, “Every citizen has the right to health care. The State shall maintain public health and provide the means of prevention and treatment by building different types of hospitals and health institutions”. These constitutional provisions aimed to build a legal framework to strengthen the existing primary health care (PHC) system, which sustained serious damage and deterioration throughout the war and requires urgent rehabilitation.

The 2005 Constitution was drafted in 2005 by members of the Iraqi Constitution Drafting Committee to replace the Law of Administration for the State of Iraq for the Transitional Period and was approved by referendum. Constitutional provisions guaranteeing the right to health care reinforced the need for the establishment of a national universal health care system. Through this process the Government of Iraq has acted to uphold equality and ensure that constitutional provisions for social security form strong legal foundations for the creation of a social protection floor.