Sierra Leone News

On Friday 24th February, Sierra Leone launched its first National Immunisation Days for 2017, which aim to protect all children less than 5 years of age against polio. Routine vaccinations will also be done for children aged 0-23 months.

Polio is a devastating virus, for which there is no cure. It invades the nervous system and can cause irreversible paralysis in a matter of hours. It can be prevented through immunization. Given multiple times, the polio vaccine almost always protects a child for life.

Tackling maternal mortality is among the most critical priorities for Sierra Leone. Today, much is being done to improve the quality of healthcare before, during and after women give birth.

Taking data from 2015, it is estimated that every day, the equivalent of eight women lose their lives during pregnancy and childbirth. This is an immense tragedy for families, for communities, and for the nation as a whole.

Currently Sierra Leone’s largest every survey of health facilities is underway as part of an extended Service Availability and Readiness Assessment (SARA+), which aims to provide critical data and information on health service quality and availability right across the country. It will also enable comprehensive mapping of current health services.

Today WHO Sierra Leone released its latest Progress Report, which documents achievements and lessons learned across the health sector over the course of 2016. This was a milestone year as the country strove to advance the post-Ebola Presidential Recovery Priorities (PRPs) as well as the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

The PRPs entered their second phase in 2016 and include commitments to:

FREETOWN, 24 March 2017 - On World Tuberculosis (TB) Day, the Government of Sierra Leone together with the World Health Organization and CISMAT called for united action to end TB in Sierra Leone, which is one of 30 countries globally with a severe burden of the disease.

FREETOWN, April 7th 2017 --- On World Health Day, the Government of Sierra Leone, the World Health Organization, the Mental Health Coalition and partners are calling for urgent action on depression in Sierra Leone, which affects at least 240,000 people in the country every year. Stigma and lack of accurate information on mental health issues are critical impediments to treatment and recovery, health experts say.

A new SMS-based reporting system has been introduced in Sierra Leone to improve identification, detection and reporting of suspected acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) cases in children less than 15 years, with the initial training of 520 health workers and community informants.

Following the Ebola crisis, a decade-long Civil War and with significant poverty, depression is estimated to be very common in Sierra Leone, affecting at least three percent of the population in any single year. Mental health practitioners also report that anxiety, psychosis and substance abuse are significant public health concerns. 

Preparations are currently underway for a vast bed net distribution campaign in Sierra Leone. Planned for June this year, the campaign aims to distribute around 4.3 million insecticide-treated bed nets to households nationwide to help protect them against malaria, which remains one of the country’s leading causes of death and illness.

An isolated case of monkeypox has been confirmed in Pujehun district, Sierra Leone. This is the third known occurrence of monkeypox in the country, with the first reported case in 1970 and the second in 2014. 

The patient, a 35-year-old male, was admitted to Pujehun District Hospital on 25th March 2017 where he is currently undergoing supportive treatment. Biological samples were shipped to Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of Congo for laboratory testing and were confirmed positive for the monkeypox virus on 17th April 2017.