Health in the Gambia

With an estimated population of about 2.8 million and around 30% of the Gambia’s population lives below the international poverty line of $1.25 USD per day, with only 1.52% of its GDP on health in 2022 (WHO recommended budget for health is 5% of the GDP) The Gambia has made significant strides in the health of its people though it is still lagging in certain health targets with new emerging threats rising. The life expectancy at birth of the general population has improved from 31.2 years in 1950, to 65.9 years 2023 (average life expectancy in the world was 73.3 years in 2023) with average life expectancy as of 2023 being 64.2 years in men, and 67.5 years in women. This has been largely attributed to improvement in healthcare delivery, disease prevention and healthcare promotion programs.

The Human Rights Measurement Initiative finds that Gambia is fulfilling 63.7% of what it should be fulfilling for the right to health based on its level of income. When looking at the right to health with respect to children, Gambia achieves 93.9% of what is expected based on its current income. 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. 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.