Overview

Key points

• The Ministry of Health holds the responsibility for overall policy and decision-making for the health system, manages public health centres, supervises tertiary hospitals and oversees research and educational institutions.
  
• Recent reforms have reorganized the health system and separated the regulator, provider and purchaser functions.
  
• In 2016, Azerbaijan established the State Agency for Mandatory Health Insurance (SAMHI) to manage publicly raised revenues from mandatory contributions and taxes. This separated the purchaser and the regulator functions of the health system.
  
• Azerbaijan formed the Administration of the Regional Medical Divisions (TABIB) in 2018 as the main institution responsible for providing health services.
  
• The mandatory health insurance (MHI) system covers all residents of Azerbaijan. The benefits package covers emergency services, primary care, outpatient care, inpatient care and outpatient medicines for vertical state programmes. Other outpatient medicines and dental care are not covered.
  
• Public spending on health in Azerbaijan is increasing, although from a low base. Since 2021, reforms have substantially increased public spending on health and the level has quadrupled between 2018 and 2023 according to national data.
  
• The number of health workers per population has decreased in the last decade, accentuating differences between urban and rural areas. Rural areas face staffing and infrastructure shortages and struggle to attract and retain physicians.
  
• The country had achieved high childhood vaccination rates prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, but these rates have since dropped.
• Infant and maternal mortality rates show a decreasing trend but remain higher than in most countries in the WHO European Region.
• Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, cardiovascular diseases and cancer were causing most deaths in Azerbaijan. In 2021, COVID-19, ischaemic heart disease and stroke were estimated to result in the greatest disease burden.
• Smoking prevalence is high in Azerbaijan, especially among males. An estimated 13% of deaths in Azerbaijan in 2021 were related to smoking, making it the third largest risk factor contributing to deaths.
• A high share of mortality is also related to air pollution, estimated to contribute to 11.5% of deaths in 2021