Access to Healthcare in Rural Morocco: A Scoping Review of Structural and Sociocultural Barriers and Facilitators

Objective: The overall objective of this scoping review is to understand the extent and type of evidence available related to the expansion of healthcare services to remote regions of Morocco. The specific aim is to synthesize available data regarding overlapping facilitators to, and challenges that obstruct, equitable access to high-quality healthcare in rural Morocco. Introduction: The 21st century in Morocco has ushered in tremendous expansion of healthcare capacity and coverage. The Ministry of Health’s Plan de Sante 2025 (or Health Plan 2025) was introduced in 2018 with a substantial commitment to health systems strengthening. This plan outlined ambitious goals for the nation’s healthcare system, including the universalization of health insurance coverage, broadening workforce training, and establishment of health centres and hospitals in previously underserviced and rural regions. Despite initial success of these efforts, severe inequalities in healthcare access and health outcomes persist, especially in rural settings. In rural Morocco, where physical access and infrastructure barriers converge with distinct cultural and linguistic factors, unique healthcare access issues arise. However, literature dedicated to addressing healthcare access in rural Morocco remains extremely limited and an understanding of identified facilitators and barriers to augmenting healthcare access is lacking. Inclusion criteria: Literature will be included if it examines individuals or communities living in rural or remote areas of Morocco and investigates facilitators and barriers to accessing healthcare (e.g., transportation, infrastructure, workforce distribution, or sociocultural and linguistic factors within any Moroccan rural setting). Literature focused exclusively on urban populations, conducted outside Morocco, or lacking relevance to healthcare access in rural Morocco will be excluded. Methods: The primary information sources to be searched will include MEDLINE (PubMed), EMBASE and Google Scholar, as well as grey literature from the Moroccan Ministry of Health, WHO, and relevant NGO reports. The search will be conducted in December 2025 and limited to studies published in English, French, or Arabic from 2000 onward.