Territorialization within the Framework of Healthcare Regionalization in Morocco

Abstract

Health equity is a central concern of modern health systems and a cornerstone of social justice. In Morocco, despite reforms undertaken in recent years, significant disparities persist between territories, with medical and hospital resources concentrated in large urban areas and a marked shortage of services in rural and remote regions. To address these challenges, the Kingdom has launched a major reform, enshrined in Framework Law No. 09-21 on social protection, which places health territorialization at the heart of the system’s restructuring through the establishment of Territorial Health Groups (Groupements Sanitaires Territoriaux, GST).

This article, based on a narrative review of the literature and an analysis of national and international institutional reports, examines equity and territorialization in the Moroccan context. The findings show that while the reform represents a historic opportunity to enhance regional planning, bring services closer to populations, and improve coordination, several challenges remain: shortage and unequal distribution of human resources, insufficient infrastructure, limited financing, and weak local governance capacities.

The discussion highlights that the success of territorialization will depend on the interplay between political will, resource mobilization, and the involvement of local actors. Health territorialization has the potential to become a major lever for social justice and for reducing inequalities, provided that longstanding structural barriers to equity in Morocco are effectively addressed.

Keywords : Health equity, Territorialization, Regional disparities, Health system reform, Morocco.

Classification JEL : I14

Paper type : Theoretical Research