[2] There are two medical schools in the country, at the University of the Gambia and the American International University West Africa,[3] as well as MRC Unit The Gambia, formerly run by the United Kingdom's Medical Research Council, and now run by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.
[6] On 31 December 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) was informed of a cluster of pneumonia cases of an unknown cause in the city of Wuhan, China.
This outbreak was declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) on 30 January 2020, and in turn was characterised as a pandemic by the WHO from 11 March.
[55] The governments of The Gambia and its sole neighbor, Senegal, agreed to close their border for 21 days starting 23 March, with exceptions for "essential services" and transporting food and medicine.
[57] On 27 March, President Adama Barrow declared a state of emergency, ordering closure of places of worship and non-essential businesses, prohibiting gatherings of more than 10 people and limiting passengers on public transportation.
[58] On 28 March, the Jack Ma and Alibaba Foundations donated test kits and personal protective equipment to the Gambia to help fight the pandemic.