Health in the Gambia

Public expenditure on health in the Gambia was at 1.8% of the GDP in 2004, whereas private expenditure was at 5.0%. There were 11 physicians per 100,000 persons in the early 2000s. Life expectancy at birth was 59.9 for females in 2005 and for males 57.7.^[1]

According to the World Health Organization in 2005, an estimated 78.3% of Gambian girls and women have suffered female genital mutilation.^[2]

The 2010 maternal mortality rate per 100,000 births for Gambia is 400. This is compared with 281.3 in 2008 and 628.5 in 1990. The under-5 mortality rate, per 1,000 births, is 106 and the neonatal mortality, as a percentage of under-5 mortality, is 31. In Gambia, the number of midwives per 1,000 live births is five and the lifetime risk of death for pregnant women is one in 49.^[3]

The Human Rights Measurement Initiative^[4] finds that Gambia is fulfilling 63.7% of what it should be fulfilling for the right to health based on its level of income.^[5] When looking at the right to health with respect to children, Gambia achieves 93.9% of what is expected based on its current income.^[6] In regards to the right to health amongst the adult population, the country achieves only 83.4% of what is expected based on the nation's level of income. ^[7] Gambia falls into the "very bad" category when evaluating the right to reproductive health because the nation is fulfilling only 13.8% of what the nation is expected to achieve based on the resources (income) it has available.^[8]