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also include information on nurses and midwifes per 1000, which is also a useful indicator of
physical access. When considering baseline (1996-2000) and endline (2011-2015) periods all three
subgroups had improved their status. But behind this positive picture lies a bleaker reality that both
Arab and African OIC groups had in fact been in a better position (in 2006-2010 for example) with
regard to nurses and midwifes and had receded the current level. The Asian group in contrast had
nearly double the nurses and midwifes statistic and had done so by consistently improving it over all
sub periods of the 20-years window examined in As a result, the OIC average had also
improved over the same period. Crudely adding the physician statistics with nurses and midwife
statistics reveals that except for the Arab and Asian groups indeed satisfies the 2.5 medical staff per
1,000 people threshold mentioned earlier.
Table 5: Trends in physical access to care in OIC countries
Hospital beds
(per 1,000
people)
Low OIC
average
High African
group
Arab
group
Asian
group
2011-2015 0.1 1.1 7.2 0.6 1.1 1.1
(Mali) (Kazakhstan)
2006-2010 1.4 0.6 1.5 1.5
2001-2005 1.3 0.5 1.6 1.5
1996-2000 1.6 1.0 1.8 1.6
Physicians (per
1,000 people)
Low OIC
average
High African
group
Arab
group
Asian
group
2011-2015 0.01 0.9 3.6 0.1 1.1 0.9
(Niger) (Maldives)
2006-2010 0.8 0.2 1.5 0.8
2001-2005 0.7 0.2 1.3 0.8
1996-2000 0.7 0.2 1.1 0.7
Nurses and
midwives (per
1,000 people)
Low OIC
average
High African
group
Arab
group
Asian
group
2011-2015 0.08 1.8 12.5 0.6 2.0 1.8
(Somalia) (Uzbekistan)
2006-2010 1.7 1.0 2.3 1.8
2001-2005 1.3 1.0 1.9 1.2
1996-2000 1.1 0.3 1.7 0.9