“Our public health facilities are routinely understaffed and stripped of essential medicines and functioning equipment,” the party said. “Our nurses show up every day not because the system adequately supports them, but in spite of the fact that it does not.”
GFA cited low access to quality care and a rising burden of both infectious diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis, and non-communicable diseases including hypertension and diabetes. It noted that hypertension alone affects about 29% of Gambians, one of the highest rates on the continent.
The party also pointed to declining immunisation rates for measles, DPT, and hepatitis B since 2017, and a fragmented medicine supply chain. It recalled the deaths of over 60 infants from contaminated cough syrup as evidence of the cost of institutional failure.
“A healthy population is not a luxury. It is the foundation of every other form of progress,” GFA said.
The party pledged a comprehensive overhaul if elected, including reversing the decline in immunisation within one year, overhauling drug procurement and distribution, building and equipping regional hospitals, restoring the National Drug Revolving Fund, and banning harmful food additives linked to non-communicable diseases.
“To every nurse in The Gambia: GFA sees you,” the statement read. “You deserve a government that equips you to do your work, pays you what your service is worth, and builds a system worthy of your commitment and sacrifice.”
International Nurses’ Day is observed globally on May 12 to recognize the role of nurses in health systems.
