Health Care (SDG 2) (1)

In Yemen in 2013, 90.1 per cent of urban households including one or more persons with a disability had gone to a health facility during the last two years, whereas the rate among households without a person with a disability was 84.3 per cent. However, in rural areas, where most of the population lives, the respective rates for households with and without at least one person with a disability were 77.2 compared to 84.6 per cent. Location therefore seems to have a considerable impact on health care facility usage for households with a person with a disability, but hardly any difference for households without a person with a disability.

Data from 2012 show that households in Iraq that included at least one person with a disability faced 59 per cent higher health care expenditure than households that did not. The difference was about the same in rural and urban areas. However, it should be noted that health care expenditure is an ambiguous proxy for vulnerability. A low level of expenditure could indicate a low need for health care, access to low-cost or freely available services, or an inability to pay for essential care. For the data to be better interpretable, it would have to be set in relation to, for example, household income or total household expenditure. Moreover, the extent to which the specific health care needs of persons with disabilities are prioritized on the household level would also need to be considered.