Swaziland’s public spending on health was 5.6 per cent of GDP in 2011, equivalent to US$265 per capita. In the most recent survey, conducted between 1997 and 2010, there were 16 doctors, and 320 nurses and midwives per 100,000 people. Additionally, in the period 2007-12, 82 per cent of births were attended by qualified health staff and in 2012, 88 per cent of one-year-olds were immunised with one dose of measles. In 2011, 72 per cent of people were using an improved drinking water source and 57 per cent had access to adequate sanitation facilities. The most recent survey, conducted in the period 2000-11, reports that Swaziland has five pharmaceutical personnel per 100,000 people.
Private expenditure on health accounted for some 36 per cent of total health care expenditure in Swaziland in 2005. The country’s main referral hospital is the Government Hospital in the capital, Mbabane. Health providers other than the government include faith organisations and private companies. Most pharmaceuticals are imported from countries such as India and South Africa. There is currently one pharmaceutical manufacturing company in Swaziland, producing a range of solid and liquid formulations.
An officially approved mental health policy does not exist. There are
0.8 day treatment facilities and 12.5 beds in psychiatric hospitals per 100,000 people.
