Health in Mongolia

Modern Mongolia inherited a relatively good healthcare system from its socialist period. A World Bank report from 2007 notes "despite its low per capita income, Mongolia has relatively strong health indicators; a reflection of the important health gains achieved during the socialist period." On average Mongolia's infant mortality rate is less than half of that of similarly economically developed countries, its under-five mortality rate and life expectancy are all better on average than other nations with similar GDP per capita.^[1]

Since 1990, key health indicators in Mongolia like life expectancy and infant and child mortality have steadily improved, both due to social changes and to improvement in the health sector. Echinococcosis was one of the commonest surgical diagnoses in the 1960s, but now has been greatly reduced.^[2] Yet, adult health deteriorated during the 1990s and the first decade of the 21st century and mortality rates increased significantly.^[3] Smallpox, typhus, plague, poliomyelitis, and diphtheria were eradicated by 1981. The Mongolian Red Cross Society focuses on preventive work. The Confederation of Mongolian Trade Unions established a network of sanatoriums.^[4]

Serious problems remain, especially in the countryside.^[5] According to a 2011 study by the World Health Organization, Mongolia's capital city, Ulaanbaatar, has the second highest level of fine particle pollution of any city in the world.^[6] Poor air quality is also the largest occupational hazard, as over two-thirds of occupational disease in Mongolia is dust induced chronic bronchitis or pneumoconiosis.^[7]

Average childbirth (fertility rate) is around 2.25^[8]–1.87^[9] per woman (2007) and average life expectancy is 68.5 years (2011).^[10] Infant mortality is at 1.9%^[11] to 4%^[12] and child mortality is at 4.3%.^[13]

Mongolia has the highest rate of liver cancer in the world by a significant margin.^[14]

The Human Rights Measurement Initiative^[15] finds that Mongolia is fulfilling 78.7% of what it should be fulfilling for the right to health based on its level of income.^[16] When looking at the right to health with respect to children, Mongolia achieves 96.2% of what is expected based on its current income.^[16] In regards to the right to health amongst the adult population, the country achieves only 79.2% of what is expected based on the nation's level of income.^[16] Mongolia falls into the "very bad" category when evaluating the right to reproductive health because the nation is fulfilling only 60.8% of what the nation is expected to achieve based on the resources (income) it has available.^[16]