[Health transition in Tunisia over the past 50 years]

We describe the dramatic demographic, socioeconomic and health changes witnessed in Tunisia over the past 50 years. Demographically, the gross mortality rate and the infant mortality rate have gone from 19 per 1000 and 150 per 1000 respectively in 1956 to 5.7 per 1000 and 26.2 per 1000 now, and life expectancy at birth going from 50 to 72 years for the same period. Socioeconomically, the urban population has risen from 25% to 62%, the literacy rate from 15% to 73%, and the per capita income has increased 5-fold in real terms. Epidemiologically, the infectious and perinatal diseases prevailing in the 1960s have decreased whereas chronic and degenerative diseases have risen. The proportion of the GNP related to health expenditure has risen from 3.8% to 6.2%. The implication of these changes on the Tunisian health system and the need to adapt in terms of curative care and prevention of risks are discussed.