Sierra Leone News

In a notable step toward improving adolescent health, Sierra Leone marked International Adolescent Health Week (IAHW) 7-13 October 2024 with a series of transformative initiatives addressing the pressing challenges faced by its rapidly growing adolescent population. Anchored by the theme “Thriving, Not Surviving: Building Adolescents’ Resilience,” the week-long activities highlighted the country’s commitment to empowering young people to take control of their health and contribute to national development.

For 43-year-old Ramatulai Kamara, a mother of four, the journey with cervical cancer began four years ago when she started experiencing severe bleeding. She sought help at multiple health facilities, seeing different doctors, but the eventual diagnosis brought devastating news: cervical cancer. “When I was finally told what was wrong with me, I cried. I was stressed, and many people said that cancer is deadly. I was also told that my only option was to go to Ghana for treatment, but I had no money for that.

Sierra Leone has made a noteworthy leap forward in its fight against cervical cancer, thanks to a two-week South-South collaboration with Zambia, supported by the World Health Organization (WHO) in November 2024. 

• Sierra Leone becomes the first country, among those most severely affected ten years ago by the West Africa Ebola outbreak, to launch nationwide preventive Ebola vaccination, targeting 20,000 frontline workers who will receive a single dose of Ebola vaccine

The Sierra Leone WHO Country Office has made great progress in promoting physical activity in the workplace through weekly aerobics sessions and monthly walks. Taking inspiration from the DG, Dr Tedros, and the RD, Dr Moeti, and in alignment with the Global Action Plan on Physical Activity (GAPPA) mission statement, the office is working diligently to ensure all staff have access to safe and enabling environments as well as diverse opportunities to be physically active in their daily lives.

To enhance Sierra Leone's polio surveillance capacity, a team of Environmental Surveillance (ES) experts from WHO Regional Office for Africa visited the country to support the Ministry of Health and the National Public Health Agency (NPHA). The mission focused on improving the performance of Environmental Surveillance (ES) sites in Freetown, considering expansions to other towns, and building the capacity of local sample collectors and supervisors.