EVERY MOMENT COUNTS

In the Gambia the importance of health to the attainment of sustainable development, is acknowledged and promoted at all levels of nation building. Consequently, significant achievements have been recorded for child health outcomes, because of improved access to basic health care services across the country.

Currently, up to 85 per cent of the population is within 5 kilometres of a Primary Health Care facility and Reproductive Health facility, leading to similar successes with the latter.

Propelled by a strong Primary Health Care (PHC), the backbone of any functioning health system, The Gambia had a strong health system that was looked up to by other countries as a model. However, the PHC has substantially deteriorated over time, and is still faced with challenges to be able to serve the population adequately.

Although numerous, the prominent factors contributing to the declining health system are:

✅ high population growth rate

✅ ‘verticalization’ of service delivery

✅ fragmentation of service delivery and health financing

✅ insufficient financial and logistic support

✅ deterioration of physical infrastructure

✅ inadequacies of supplies and equipment

✅ high rate of referral systems.

This could worsen in light of the existing limited access to quality health care services, and inadequate equipment, plus the double burden of Communicable, and especially increasing Non-Communicable diseases.