Before you start

An employment contract — IPM affiliation is the employer's obligation, not something you arrange
Your carte d'identité d'étranger or récépissé, for CMU enrolment if you take it
A yellow-fever vaccination certificate if you arrive from a country with transmission risk; check current requirements before you fly
Malaria prophylaxis arranged before arrival — risk is year-round nationally and highest in the rainy season

Step-by-step

1
Get affiliated to the employer's IPM
Employers above a statutory headcount must create or join an institution de prévoyance maladie for their staff. Contributions run at 6% of salary split between employer and employee, on a contribution base between XOF 60,000 and 250,000 a month, and cover the employee, spouse and dependent children. Benefits open after two months of contributions, so an arrival gap is a cover gap.
Via employerWho: Your employerTwo months to benefitsYour half of 6%, on a capped base
2
Understand what the IPM actually pays
An IPM reimburses between 50% and 80% of costs depending on the fund's rules and the type of care. It is a reimbursement scheme, not a card that opens a door: you pay, then claim. Read your fund's schedule for the ceiling on hospitalisation, because that is the number that matters and it varies enormously between funds.
Via employerWho: YouBefore you need it20–50% of every bill, plus anything above the ceiling
3
Take private cover with direct settlement and evacuation
The gap between what an IPM reimburses and what a Dakar private clinic charges is what a private policy is for, and the feature that matters is direct settlement — the insurer paying the hospital rather than you claiming afterwards. Medical evacuation cover is the second non-negotiable: complex surgery, major trauma and intensive care are routinely evacuated to Europe or Morocco.
In personWho: You or your employerDays, through a brokerNot published by Senegalese insurers; get quotes rather than trusting a blog figure
4
Know which hospital you would actually go to
Hôpital Principal on the Plateau is the military-run hospital foreign missions use and has the broadest emergency capability. CHU de Fann carries neurology and the poison centre; Hôpital Dalal Jamm in Guédiawaye and Hôpital Idrissa Pouye at Grand Yoff take general emergencies. Aristide Le Dantec — the reference hospital most guides still name — has been closed for reconstruction since September 2022, with delivery announced for 2026; its radiotherapy unit reopened on 4 May 2026 while the rest of the site is rebuilt.
In personWho: YouBefore you need itPrivate consultations run several tens of thousands of XOF; public tariffs are a fraction of that
5
Enrol in the CMU only if it is actually your regime
The CMU costs XOF 7,000 a year per person, halved to XOF 3,500 for those with capacity to pay and free for the indigent, and is administered by the national agency with municipal mutuelles. It is designed for people outside salaried employment. If you are on a payroll with an IPM, enrolling adds little; if you are self-employed here, it is the cheapest floor available and worth having.
In personWho: YouSame day at a mutuelleXOF 3,500–7,000 a year per person

Documents you’ll need

Employment contract and IPM affiliation number
Carte d'identité d'étranger or récépissé
Marriage certificate for a spouse, birth certificates for children
Private insurance card showing direct settlement — the thing that gets you admitted
Vaccination record, including yellow fever

Things most newcomers don’t know

The CMU is not the expat's health plan, and calling it universal misleads.

It was built to bring the informal sector and the rural poor into cover, and it reimburses against public tariffs at accredited facilities. A salaried professional's real cover is the employer IPM plus private insurance. Treating the CMU as a substitute is the single most common planning error people make about Senegalese healthcare.

Source: Ministère de la Santé et de l'Action sociale — CMU; CLEISS

An IPM reimburses; it does not admit you.

Senegalese hospitals expect payment before treatment, and an IPM pays you back afterwards. The feature that changes your position at 2am is direct settlement from a private insurer. Buying a policy with reimbursement only and no tiers payant is buying the wrong half.

Source: CLEISS — régime sénégalais; local practice

Le Dantec has been a building site since 2022 — check before you rely on any hospital list.

Aristide Le Dantec appears on almost every published guide to Dakar healthcare, and it has been closed for reconstruction since September 2022. Its radiotherapy service came back on 4 May 2026 after a two-year gap; the rest is due in 2026. If a source still lists it as a working general hospital, that source is at least four years stale on everything else too.

Source: Ministère de la Santé; Senegalese press, May 2026

Dakar is the health argument for living in Dakar.

The concentration of specialists, intensive care and diagnostic equipment on the peninsula is out of proportion to the rest of the country. Anyone weighing Saint-Louis, Thiès or Touba against the capital should price in a two-to-four-hour drive to definitive care for anything serious — that, more than cost or climate, is the real trade.

Source: Ministère de la Santé — hospital network

Common mistakes to avoid

Treating the CMU as your health plan rather than as a floor for people outside salaried work
Buying private cover without direct settlement, and meeting the pay-first rule at the worst possible moment
Skipping medical-evacuation cover, which is the single largest financial risk of living here
Assuming IPM benefits start on day one — they open after two months of contributions
Relying on a hospital list that still treats Le Dantec as open
Stopping malaria prophylaxis in the dry season; risk is year-round and peaks after the rains

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.