Morocco

This kingdom in North Africa was ruled by the Moors in medieval times, with the Portuguese capturing and then holding some port cities along the coast during the fifteenth century. These were later placed under Spanish rule (when the kingdoms of Spain and Portugal had the same ruler). By the 1900s the Spanish and French had occupied different parts of Morocco—the Spanish holding the northeastern part around Tetuan, and the region later known as the Spanish Sahara. In addition the Spanish held the port cities of Ceuta and Melilla, which remain a part of Spain, and also the port of Ifni. The French occupied the remainder of the country, except for Tangier which became an international city. In 1956 the kingdom of Morocco gained its independence, taking over Ifni in 1969, and the Spanish Sahara when the Spanish left during the 1970s. Morocco has a population of 33,241,000 (2005), with 46 doctors and 105 nurses per 100,000 people.

During medieval times, Arab surgeons made heavy use the works of Avicenna (980–1037), whose work influenced much medical teaching in North Africa and the Middle East. The arrival of the colonial powers, led to a European-style medical system with most hospitals transformed to treat Europeans and also wealthy locals, especially Jews and members of the local elite. The Pasteur Institute was established in Casablanca in 1912, and the National Institute of Hygiene was founded in 1930 with it now running the National Poison Control Center and the Toxicological Documentation Center.

After independence, the new Kingdom of Morocco increased the revenue spent on healthcare, with many new hospitals being built and the existing ones being modernized and enlarged. Gradually the Social Welfare Fund was established with all Moroccans contributing to a national insurance program for sickness and accidents. To encourage people to move to the Western Sahara, the Moroccan government has built many hospitals and clinics, and made healthcare there free for all.

Most of the health problems which Morocco faced when it became independent were from the poor sanitation and lack of access to clean drinking water. The result was that many people suffered from cholera, typhoid, tuberculosis and dysentery. Tap water is now safe in Morocco north of Marrakech, but in some isolated areas, where fresh water is not available, there are still problems with worms causing Bilharzia still being found in some ponds near the Atlas Mountains. Traditional medicines were mainly herbal, and some of these have been found to be effective and are still prescribed in many parts of rural Morocco.

As healthcare has improved, and more people are living longer, there has been a higher prevalence of cancer. The story of a woman suffering from breast cancer was told by author Leila Lahlous in her book Do Not Forget God (1987), with the Venezuelan-American immunologist Baruj Benacerraf (b. 1920), son of Sephardic Jews from Morocco, winning the 1980 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on cancer. The Center for Epidemiology and the Fight against Illness was founded in 1990.