Aniru Sahib Sahib Conteh was born on 6 August 1942, in the town of Jawi Folu, Eastern Province, British Sierra Leone, the son of a farmer and chief of the village. He moved to Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, after his mother died while he was in his teens. Conteh studied chemistry and biology at Fourah Bay College and began teaching after receiving his BSc. In 1968, he began studying medicine in Nigeria at the modern University of Ibadan, graduating in 1974. Conteh spent the next four years employed by the Ibadan Teaching Hospital. He returned home to Sierra Leone in 1979. Conteh married and raised a family with his wife Sarah, producing several sons and daughters.Some sources report four sons, others report three; , "four sons, two daughters"; : "three sons and two daughters"; , "four sons, and two daughters"; , "three sons, and two daughters".
