Find Health and Medical expertise in Solomon Islands

There are nine public hospitals, four private church-funded hospitals, around 25 health centres, 109 rural health clinics and more than 150 nurse aid posts. The National Referral Hospital is located in Honiara, Guadalcanal Province.

The WHO Country Specific Strategic Agenda has identified a need for Solomon Islands to try to achieve universal health coverage. As a result, the government will be introducing new National Health Accounts and identifying health-financing options, which might include new tobacco tax legislation. There will also be a drive to recruit health care professionals, where human resources gaps have been identified, through initiatives including inviting foreign medical graduates to apply for jobs in its the national health services.

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in Solomon Islands accounted for an estimated 60% of all mortality in 2012. The most prevalent NCDs in Solomon Islands are cardiovascular diseases, which accounted for 19% of total deaths across all age groups in 2012. Cancer, diabetes and non-communicable variants of respiratory diseases contributed 10%, 8% and 6% to total mortality, respectively (2012). Communicable diseases along with maternal, perinatal and nutritional conditions in Solomon Islands accounted for an estimated 30% of all mortality in 2012. A government paper on HIV/AIDS reported that there were an estimated 14 people living in the country with HIV in 2013. The number of confirmed cases of malaria has declined steadily in the period 2000–9, while the number of deaths from malaria has fallen since 2009. There has been a significant reduction in estimated incidence of and estimated mortality (when mortality data excludes cases comorbid with HIV) from tuberculosis (TB) in the period 1990–2012.

Government expenditure

In 2013 government expenditure on health was 4.8% of GDP, equivalent to US$142 per capita. In the most recent survey, conducted in the period 1997–2010, there were 22 doctors, and 205 nurses and midwives per 100,000 people. Additionally, in the period 2007–12, 86% of births were attended by qualified health staff and in 2013, 76% of one-year-olds were immunised with a dose of measles. In 2014, 81% of the country’s population had access to improved water sources and 30% had access to adequate sanitation facilities. The most recent survey, conducted in the period 2000–11, reports that Solomon Islands has 10 pharmaceutical personnel per 100,000 people.

Just 4% of health care in Solomon Islands was paid for by patients or funded by other non-governmental entities – such as private insurers, charities or employers – in 2012. Total health expenditure constituted 7.7% of GDP in 2012, of which 96% (US$142 per capita) was covered by the government. Public spending on health care was 5% of GDP in 2013.

Infant mortality in Solomon Islands was 25 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2013, with an under-five mortality rate of 30 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2013. There has been an overall decline in the under-five mortality rate since 1990. Although this decline is encouraging, the under-five mortality rate is not yet in line with the country’s target of 13 deaths per 1,000 live births as defined by Millennium Development Goal 4 (MDG 4).

Solomon Islands was not an original signatory to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, but declared notification of succession in 1984. It includes ‘the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health’. The covenant commits signees to providing healthy and hygienic environmental conditions, controlling epidemic diseases, improving child health and facilitating access to health services without discrimination.