Health and Education
From The Report: Algeria 2014
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Having made considerable gains in health care provision over the past five decades, Algeria has been undergoing a transition in terms of its health challenges. Under the current 2009-14 five-year plan, the government had pledged $6.2bn for the establishment of new health infrastructure, including 1500 new facilities. Renovation of existing facilities is also being undertaken, coordinated with a certain level of decentralisation to allow the management of health efforts to become more autonomous in the regions. Algeria continues to put a strong emphasis on improving provision of education across the country. A decade has passed since the beginning of educational reform, and authorities are now cementing new practices and aiming to understand which elements need further work. Expansion of infrastructure and continued teacher training should also help to improve standards.

This chapter contains interviews with Yiğit Gürçay, Senior Vice-President and Area Director – MENA, GlaxoSmithKline; and Abdelhak Lamiri, President, Groupe INSIM

Articles from this Chapter

Overview

Shifting investment and infrastructure to fight against chronic disease
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Having made considerable gains in health care provision over the past five decades, Algeria has been undergoing a transition in terms of its health challenges. With improved basic health indicators in the field of infectious diseases, the country is now battling a rise in chronic disease affecting the population. This is being accomplished through a combination of public and private investment efforts, and the matching of health service provision with regional needs. Under the current 2009-14 five-year…

Analysis

The long battle: Better prevention and infrastructure to aid the fight against cancer
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With Algeria going through a demographic as well as an epidemiologic transition over the past few decades, its disease profile has been changing accordingly. While infectious diseases were the main worry during the first decade of independence, recent years have seen the focus change towards non-communicable diseases. Cardiovascular diseases, cancer and diabetes are now the main health problems faced by the population. Cancer, in particular, has become an increasingly pressing issue, leading the…

Interview

OBG talks to Yiğit Gürçay, Senior Vice-President and Area Director – MENA, GlaxoSmithKline
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Interview: Yiğit Gürçay What benefits can multinational pharmaceutical companies derive from expanding local production activities in emerging markets? YIGIT GÜRÇAY: Multinational pharmaceutical companies can play critical roles in emerging markets, not only in improving access to medicines and quality care, but also in expanding economic opportunities in those countries. Business activity leads to the creation of more jobs by hiring local employees, enables technology transfer, develops human…

Overview

Improved facilities and links to the private sector are helping to form a better prepared workforce
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Following through on the implementation of its reform plans, Algeria continues to put a strong emphasis on improving provision of education across the country. A decade has passed since the beginning of the educational reform, and authorities are now cementing new practices and aiming to understand which elements need further work. Efforts are now targeted at improving the quality of teaching by enhancing learning conditions. This has been translating into higher standards of national teaching programmes…

Analysis

Efforts to align technical education with market needs
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Unemployment remains one of the most important challenges facing the government. Despite steady economic growth, bureaucracy and tight regulations for private sector operators have sometimes prevented the economy from creating enough jobs at a fast enough rate. Addressing the parliament in mid-2014, Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal said that the country had been able to reduce unemployment from 29.5% in 2000 to 9.8% in 2013. However, the IMF recently warned that general unemployment could reach 10.8%…

Interview

OGB talks to Abdelhak Lamiri, President, Groupe INSIM
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Interview: Abdelhak Lamiri Has “brain drain” affected the Algerian economy? ABDELHAK LAMIRI: Brain drain has always existed in Algeria, but at the beginning we were able to deal with it. We used to lose around 10,000 of our best workers every year. However, this became a national problem during the 1990s due to the instability caused by terrorism and the civil war, when we started to lose more than 50,000 workers a year. As we know, the brain drain concerns the best skilled workers, so this…