Table 1

Physician workforce distribution and number of medical schools by African country

Country
Population (in 1000s)
Physicians per 100 000 population
Total number of physicians
FAIMER number of medical schools

Angola
10 132
7.7
780
1
Benin
6428
5.7
366
1
Botswana
1578
23.8
376
0
Burkina Faso
12 217
3.4
415
1
Burundi*
5714
6
343
1
Cameroon
14 792
7.4
1095
1
Cape Verde
0.04
17.1
68
0
Central African Republic
3501
3.5
123
1
Chad
8419
3.3
278
1
Comoros
0.578
7.4
43
0
Congo
2809
25.1
705
1
Congo (DR)
51 810
6.9
3575
3
Côte d'Ivoire
15 866
9
1428
1
Equatorial Guinea
0.474
24.6
117
0
Eritrea
4232
3
127
0
Ethiopia*
62 651
2
1253
3
Gabon*
1223
20
245
1
Ghana
19 509
6.2
1210
3
Guinea
8642
13
1123
1
Guinea-Bissau
1278
16.6
212
1
Kenya
30 310
13.2
4001
2
Lesotho
1847
5.4
100
0
Liberia
3149
2.3
72
2
Madagascar
15 506
10.7
1659
3
Malawi*
10 874
2.3
250
1
Mali
10 665
4.7
501
1
Mauritania
2668
13.8
368
0
Mauritius
1179
85
1002
1
Mozambique#
16 934
2.57
435
1
Namibia
11 826
29.5
3489
0
Niger
10 174
3.5
356
1
Nigeria
123 750
18.5
22 894
16
Rwanda*
7405
4
296
1
Sao Tome & Principe
0.16
46.7
75
0
Senegal
9784
7.5
734
2
Seychelles
0.08
132.4
106
1
Sierra Leone
5203
7.3
380
1
So. Africa
42 351
56.3
23 844
8
Somalia
7253
4
290
1
Sudan
35 080
9
3157
14
Swaziland
1,120
15.1
169
0
Tanzania
33 768
4.1
1384
4
The Gambia
1367
3.5
48
0
Togo
5033
7.6
383
1
Uganda*
23 496
3
705
3
Zambia
9799
6.9
676
1
Zimbabwe
12 186
13.9
1694
1
TOTAL/AVG
663 529
12.5
82,949
1.8 avg
Avg. physicians per country
1765


*Indicates countries for which physicians/100 000 data came from World Bank instead of World Health Organization

# Mozambique data come from Stephen S. Gloyd, as no data are available from WHO or World Bank

Note on calculations: Average physicians per 100 000 population in Africa overall = total number of doctors (82 949)/total population (663 529)

Sources: Population data from United States Census Bureau IDB Summary international Data Base (United Nations and National Statistics Offices) http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/idbsum.html

Number of physicians from the World Health Organization http:/ / www3.who.int/ whosis/ health_personnel/ health_personnel.cfm?path=whosis,he alth_personnel&language=english;

Number of FAIMER (Foundation for the Advancement of International Medical Education and Research) medical schools comes from http:/ / imed.ecfmg.org/ results.asp?country=&school=&currpa ge=1&cname=&city=&region=AF&rname=A frica&psize=25

Hagopian et al. Human Resources for Health 2004 2:17   doi:10.1186/1478-4491-2-17