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Key figures
| Total population |
1,514 millions |
| Growth rate |
1.9% per year |
| Urban population |
85% |
| Population aged 60 and older (2009) |
3,9% |
| Fertility rate (2009) |
4,6 children/women |
Life expectancy (in 2009):
- Men
- Women |
52 years
55 years |
| Infant mortality per 1000 (M/W) |
60/43 |
| Per capita GDP |
2,491,022 FCFA |
| Total health expenditures per inhabitant (2002) |
€133 |
| Share of health expenditures covered by the government (2002) |
41,3 % |
Gabon considers health as a priority. At the end of August 2008, the Gabonese government welcomed the first Inter-Ministerial Conference on Health and Environment in Africa, organised in collaboration with the WHO and the United Nations Environment Programme.
President Ali Bongo Ondimba’s Programme for health:
“Concerning health, we have to combat the AIDS pandemic as a priority, for it still affects more than 7% of the population. Energetic measures will be implemented for prevention and treatment, in order to rapidly reverse the trend. I will make this my personal business.
Beyond HIV/AIDS, we will be interested in the entire health system which continues to be characterised by low indicators. Efforts will focus on improving access to health care, on generalising vaccination coverage and health insurance, on a better supply of medicines and improved quality of care.
Specifically, I undertake to make the costs of giving birth in public health establishments free right from the first day of my installation as President of the Republic. Considerable financial resources will be devoted to social welfare, with priority being given to handicapped people, the elderly, children, people in need, widows, orphans, unmarried mothers, rural women and native peoples.
Retirement pensions will be revalorised and free social coverage in the State health centres will be guaranteed for retired people. Their mobilisation in activities of public interest will also be promoted.”
Source: Excerpt from the Project for Society - www.ali9.orgS
One of the most effective programs to combat AIDS in Africa
Gabon serves as an example for other Central African in the fight against AIDS.
Since 1998 (when the virus began to spread rapidly), a comprehensive approach was implemented to cover all aspects from prevention to treatment for the afflicted.
A national program to combat AIDS was implemented with the assistance of multiple international organizations (UNDP, UNICEF, UNFPA) and associations.
These partnerships reinforce the government’s efforts and enable health care providers to take a multi-faceted approach: prevention, care for those with AIDS and children orphaned by it, the socio-economic impact in households, in-vitro transmission of the disease and so on.
The purchase of antiretroviral drugs is dependent on a program that receives USD 1.5 million in funding per year.
The government has implemented measures for prevention and treatment :
- Opening of several Ambulatory Treatment Centres in Libreville, Lambaréné and Port-Gentil, for the care of people living with HIV-AIDS. They will give access to anti-retroviral treatments and carry out screening blood tests.
Within the framework of World AIDS Day on 1st December 2009, the Port-Gentil Ambulatory Treatment Centre proposed a free screening operation lasting two days.
- Creation of a national workshop for training and exchange of experience between Gabonese and French medical teams under the ESTHER program (Ensemble pour une Solidarité Thérapeutique Hospitalière en Réseau – Group for United Networked Hospital Treatment) – launched in 2001 by Mr. Bernard Kouchner.
- Free antiretroviral drugs for the most impoverished patients, with a symbolic contribution (2% of the cost of treatment, or €3) for the others. This is possible through funding from the United Treatment Fund created by the President of the Republic.
- Seeking partnerships to reduce the cost of ARV drugs or develop production units in Africa (see generic drug production plant in Libreville) to treat the maximum number of patients.
- Creation of a Ministry to combat AIDS in 2008
Inauguration of an Egyptian-Gabonese medical centre in Libreville
On 1st April 2009, a new medical centre was inaugurated in Libreville. The fruit of cooperation between Egypt and Gabon, this is a first on the African continent.
The ultramodern buildings were built by Gabon, and Egypt sent leading edge medical apparatus, medicines and doctors.
SEVERAL PROJECTS UNDERWAY OR TO BE IMPLEMENTED IN THE FUTURE
A health insurance system for all the Gabonese people
Access to health care for all Gabonese citizens is becoming a reality. In accordance with the wishes of the late Omar Bongo Ondimba, the National Insurance and Social Welfare Fund (CNAMGS) was set up in 2007 by presidential decree.
Since the end of 2008, Gabonese people with low economic means are taken in charge by the Health Insurance and Social Welfare scheme. Since 2009, the scheme includes civil servants and in 2010 employees in the private sector will also be included.
The aim is to set up a win-win system with the care providers, to improve the quality of care, medical supplies, the modernity of medical equipment and the geographic distribution of the healthcare available.
The mission of CNAMGS is to ensure good management of the health insurance budget: Systematic inspections of the establishments will make it possible to avoid over-consumption of medical care and excess billing of care provision.
Aid from non-profit organisations
The actions conducted to date by the Albertine Amissa Bongo Ondimba Foundation, beyond the building and fitting out of the reception centre for young women in need, an independent establishment managed by a Religious Congregation, include, in particular:
1) Health and humanitarian action
Medical caravans have been organised in all the provinces of Gabon, consisting of offering specialist consultations in domains such as surgery, gynaecology, gastrology, ENT, ophthalmology, stomatology, dermatology, paediatrics and general medicine.
Awareness raising regarding HIV was conducted and vaccinations carried out against the principal diseases.
2) Organisation of international congresses for continuous medical training.
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A Euro-Africa cancer congress was organised in collaboration with the Ministry for Higher Education. It brought together French-speaking African countries and France. Two other congresses on the topic are planned.
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2nd Francophone African Days with the French national society for gastro-enterology.
3) Donation of technical and specialist equipment:
Several purchases were made with a view to improving the way the various departments of the CHL are run, and were gifted by the Albertine Amissa Bongo Ondimba Foundation to these Establishments, such as video endoscopes, equipment for treating upper and lower gastrointestinal bleeding, electrocardiographs, tensiometers, electroencephalographs, etc.
Sources :
Albertine Amissa Bongo Ondimba Foundation
World Health Organisation
The World Bank
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