Health & Education
From The Report: Gabon 2013
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Under the National Health Strategy adopted in 2010, Gabon has made a push to upgrade service quality and expand hospital capacity. In recent years, the country’s health strategy has centred on heavy investment in infrastructure. The Ministry of Health aims to enforce a set of quality standards by 2020, but with 86% of the population living in urban areas, rural structures face challenges including understaffing and interruption of supplies. Much remains to be done to meet Gabon’s Millennium Development Goals, yet efforts to make health governance more effective at the local level should help the authorities to identify weak points in the system and allocate resources more effectively.

A drive to diversify Gabon’s economy away from commodity dependency has made education a key element of the broader plans for growth. The state is primarily working to increase the number of schools, train and recruit more teachers, and produce reliable statistics on student performance by 2020. Efforts to introduce more advanced and technical degree programmes will better equip young people to meet the demands of the shifting domestic job market. More and more specialised schools are opening with private support, but the country will need to expand these programmes quickly to meet the demands of Gabon’s growing economy.

This chapter contains an interview with Léon Nzouba, Minister of Health.

Articles from this Chapter

Overview

Elective surgery: The state is busily investing in infrastructure and new systems
OBG
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In recent years, Gabon’s health strategy has centred on heavy investment in infrastructure. With a number of facilities undergoing refurbishment and expansion, two programmes – a national health survey and an initiative to strengthen local government – will give authorities a more accurate picture of the disease burden. Major challenges remain regarding both communicable and non-communicable diseases (NCDs), but efforts to set up a responsive, efficient care system should speed up progress…

Analysis

Universal coverage: Preparing a public insurance system for launch in 2014
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Until 2009 the majority of health expenditure in Gabon came from the private sector. A small segment of the population has private health insurance, but most private spending is out-of-pocket. Access to quality care in Gabon is out of step with the country’s position as an upper-middle income country, and the government has made an effort to jump-start spending and create a more efficient public health system. Now it is preparing to activate its universal health insurance scheme, the first…

Interview

Reaching the masses: OBG talks to Léon Nzouba, Minister of Health
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Interview:Léon Nzouba How much of the low-income population is covered by the current health system? LEON NZOUBA: The health and social protection systems Gabon has implemented are considered to be rather innovative within the sub-region. Low-income earners were the first targeted population in the enrolment process. Today, 80% of their medical expenses are covered by the National Health Insurance Fund and Social Guarantee (Caisse Nationale d’Assurance Maladie et de Garantie Sociale, CNAMGS).…

Overview

Work in progress: Reforms under way to align degree programmes with the job market
OBG
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A drive to diversify Gabon’s economy away from commodity dependency has made education a key element of the broader plans for growth. The government has adopted a development strategy based on the results of the 2010 National Education Conference, which highlighted pertinent weaknesses in the public education system. The state is primarily working to increase the number of schools, train and recruit more teachers, and produce reliable statistics on student performance by 2020. Efforts to…