The Nigerian population, currently 202 million, is projected to reach 400 million by 2050. The national Maternal Mortality Rate is 512 deaths/100,000 (NDHS 2018). There is limited access to health services through the conventional health system and COVID-19 pandemic affected provision of Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child, and Adolescent Health facilities, including Family Planning.

On the other hand, Nigeria has been implementing self-care interventions for a while. Nigeria is currently implementing self-injectable DMPA sub-cutaneous, HIV self-testing, HPV selfsampling (in pilot stages), home-based ovulation predictor kits, and over-the-counter oral contraceptives. However, in early 2020, there were few policy guidelines to back them up.

In this context, in 2020, taking advantage of the global launch of the WHO consolidated guideline on self-care interventions (2019), the WHO office in Nigeria carried out a series of activities towards the Ministry of Health and different partners to raise awareness on self-care interventions. These efforts by the WHO office in Nigeria towards Federal Ministry of Health and other national stakeholders led to the successful development and validation of the national guideline on self-care for Sexual, Reproductive and Maternal Health.

“There is a lot of interest in the WHO consolidated guidelines on selfcare interventions from a wide range of stakeholders. The development of a costed implementation plan helps to fast-track implementation. Also, the availability of funded projects devoted to self-care is helping in early scale-up in the states.” said Dr. Olumuyiwa Ojo, Technical Officer, Family and Reproductive Health, WHO Country Office Nigeria.

Sierra Leone is currently at the initial stages of developing guidelines on self-care interventions for Sexual and Reproductive Health. However, in December 2020, during the World AIDS Day celebrations, the National HIV/AIDS Secretariat launched HIV self-testing for key vulnerable populations and discordant couples.

“Inadequate human resources for health in Sierra Leone often results in lack of access to sexual and reproductive health services. Implementation of self-care interventions will create more opportunities for individuals to make informed decisions regarding their health. It will increase choice and improve health outcomes.” said Dr. Alren Vandy, Technical Officer – Reproductive Health in WHO Sierra Leone country office.

WHO Country Office in Sierra Leone decided, in January 2021, to conduct a consultative meeting with key Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child, and Adolescent Health (RMNCAH) stakeholders and partners on WHO Consolidated Guidelines on Self-Care Interventions for Health (SRHR). This meeting was to orientate RMNCAH stakeholders on the WHO’s guidelines, select critical self-care interventions for Sierra Leone, and develop the next steps for implementation.

As Nigeria and Sierra Leone have similar contexts, WHO AFRO and Dr. Olumuyiwa Ojo from the WHO Country Office of Nigeria co-facilitated the Sierra-Leone consultative meeting on selfcare interventions. The participants at the meeting were Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Health and Sanitation and key RMNCAH stakeholders.

“Nigeria’s experiences on coordination for developing and implementing self-care interventions have guided the Sierra Leone process. Sierra Leone has commenced engagement with several public and private sector players to be part of the self-care task force we created. We hope to continue engagement with Nigeria during every phase of implementation and build long-term, mutually beneficial relationships beyond self-care implementation” stated Dr. Alren Vandy, Technical Officer, Reproductive Health, WHO Country Office Sierra Leone.

“We have had several engagements with various countries. However, this is the first formal South-South Cooperation done and documented. We will use this process to guide future South-South Cooperation. We aim to share experiences around institutionalizing and scale-up of Maternal Death Surveillance and Response (MDSR).” she added.