Sierra Leone’s public spending on health was 3.4 per cent of GDP in 2011, equivalent to US$69 per capita. In the most recent survey, conducted in the period 1997-2010, there were two doctors, and 17 nurses and midwives per 100,000 people. Additionally, in the period 2007-12, 63 per cent of births were attended by qualified health staff and in 2012, 80 per cent of one-year-olds were immunised with one dose of measles. In 2011, 58 per cent of people were using an improved drinking water source and 13 per cent had access to adequate sanitation facilities.
The most recent survey, conducted in the period 2000-11, found that Sierra Leone has three pharmaceutical personnel per 100,000 people.
There are about 80 hospitals in the public, private and NGO sectors in Sierra Leone and about 40 pharmacy importers (2006). The facilities include 17 government civilian hospitals with a key private hospital, Choitram, in Freetown. The largest mission hospital in the country is the Emergency Hospital established by the Italian NGO Emergency, and a key medical training facility is the College of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences (COMAHS). The Hospital Boards Act of 2003 came into operation to ensure the better management of specified hospitals and the provision of efficient medical care in the country. Sierra Leone’s pharmaceutical sector mainly consists of retailers, marketers and local agents of the big international pharmaceutical firms. The country imports almost all of its pharmaceuticals and the Pharmacy Board monitors such importation. The board has been involved in a series of efforts to stamp out the proliferation of counterfeit medicines, which continue to pose a threat to the pharmaceutical industry and public health in the entire region.
The current mental health laws under the Mental Treatment Ordinance have been in place since 1957. There are 10.2 outpatient facilities per 100,000 people and 124.2 beds in psychiatric hospitals (2011).
