Improving the quality and coverage of health services is an important part of the Strategic Plan for an Emerging Gabon, a government strategy to transition Gabon from an upper-middle-income economy to an emerging economy by 2025.

While the country has already achieved better economic status than nearly all others in sub-Saharan Africa, Gabon's health indicators have remained more typical of low income nations—the most recent WHO figures indicate a child mortality rate of 56/1,000 live births and a maternal mortality rate of 240/100,000 live births.

MSH identified key factors influencing health outcomes in Gabon through a 2012 assessment of the national health system. Results of the assessment showed that measures to improve the performance of the health care system should prioritize: strengthening governance; increasing the use of health information to inform decision making; preventing health commodity stock-outs; ensuring balanced distribution of human resources and financing for health; and updating outdated infrastructure and equipment.

These priorities are now being addressed through a 2015-2020 agreement between MSH and the Government of Gabon known as the Gabon Health Reform Support Program (Programme d'appui à la réforme sanitaire du Gabon). The program pursues a series of health sector reforms defined in the Strategic Plan for an Emerging Gabon, including the introduction of results-based financing for public health facilities, and more generally supports the country's National Health Development Plan.