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Momodou
Denmark
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 Posted - 12 Sep 2007 : 23:24:08
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Gambia Falls Short on Health Expenditure
By Bubacarr K. Sowe
The Gambia Government has fallen short on the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended annual expenditure of US$ 34 on health per person, a new study revealed. A study to trace the sources of health expenditure in The Gambia was carried out by the National Health Accounts (NHA) under the Department of State for Health and Social Welfare with the objective to determine the total health expenditure from the government, private, parastatals, non-government organisations and individuals or households out of pocket expenditures.
The NHA report which covered the financial years of 2002, 2003 and 2004 has not been released yet, but a dissemination workshop held recently at the Paradise Suits Hotel revealed some of the findings.
According to a paper presented by Sekou Omar Toure, Director of Planning and Information at the Department of State for Health, it was only Cape Verde who met the WHO recommendation during the years covered by the NHA study. It stated that the per capita general government health expenditure was less than US$ 10 in Cote D’Ivoire, Gambia, Guinea Conakry, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Togo.
Among the recommendations forwarded by the Director of Planning and Information is the need to carry out the second NHA exercise covering 2005, 2006 and 2007, and thereafter make decision on the frequency of subsequent NHA studies. The recommendations also called for the institutionalization of the NHA and the establishment of a Permanent NHA advisory and monitoring committee with a Permanent Secretariat. The NHA findings show that there was 41.9% nominal growth in the per capita Total Health Expenditure (THE) between 2002 and 2005.
“The per capita (“THE”) was D895 in 2002, D1026 in 2003 and D1203 in 2004" the study reveals. It added that the total health expenditure was D1, 185, 223, 103 in 2002; D1, 395, 958, 522 in 2003 and D1, 682, 323, 673 in 2004. “Total expenditure on health as a percentage of GDP in The Gambia was 16.1% in 2002, 13.9% in 2003 and 14.9% in 2004”
Source: Foroyaa Newspaper Burning Issues
Issue No.107/2007, 12-13 September, 2007
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