Paying with their Lives: The cost of illness for children in Africa

This report shows how abolishing healthcare fees could save the lives of hundreds of thousands of children in Africa.

May 2006

Save the Children UK estimates that the lives of 285,000 children in Africa could be saved every year by abolishing healthcare fees.Thousands more children would lead healthier lives without healthcare fees pushing their families into poverty.

Fees put basic healthcare treatment out of reach of poor people or force them into debt. In Sierra Leone a course of treatment for a child suffering from malaria costs 8,000 leones, or £4.24. It would take the average Sierra Leonean 14 days to earn this amount.

In UK terms, it's the equivalent of a British citizen paying £700 for treatment.