A new ILO report shows that 56 per cent of people living in rural areas worldwide do not have access to essential health-care services – more than double the figure in urban areas, where 22 per cent are not covered.

The report Global evidence on inequities in rural health protection says new data on rural deficits in health coverage for 174 countries reveals major health access disparities between rural and urban areas around the globe, particularly in developing countries.

The highest number of people in rural areas who are not covered by essential health-care services is in Africa where it amounts to 83 per cent. The most affected countries also face the highest levels of poverty.

The largest differences between rural and urban areas, however, exist in Asia. For example, in Indonesia the percentage of people that are not covered is twice as high in rural areas as in urban areas.

Decades of underinvestment in health interrupted efforts to develop national health systems and ultimately resulted in the neglect of health in rural areas. This has a huge human cost. Health is a human right and should be provided to all residents within a country,” said Isabel Ortiz, Director of the ILO’s Social Protection Department.

The ILO study further finds that even if access to health care is guaranteed by law, people in rural areas remain excluded from health care because such laws are not enforced where they live.

The situation is worsened by the lack of health workers in the world’s rural areas. Although half of the world’s population lives in them, only 23 per cent of the global health workforce is deployed to rural areas. The ILO estimates that 7 million out of the total 10.3 million health workers who are lacking globally are needed in these areas.