Sierra Leone News

The Ministry of Health and Sanitation with support from the World Health Organization and International Rescue Committee has completed training of medical personnel in the Kenema Gov-ernment Hospital on Maternal Death Review (MDR) process. The Review involves understanding the underlying factors that lead to the deaths. Each death tells a story and can provide practi-cal ways of addressing the problems.

The Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MoHS) with technical assistance from the World Health Organization has initiated the development of standards for Adolescent Health Friendly Ser-vices. The standards will be used as tools to accelerate imple-mentation of the adolescent health strategic plan, particularly provision of quality health services as part of the health sector's response to the needs of adolescent and young people.

The World Health Organization on Thursday 25th August 2011 donated various items worth more than US$155,000 to the Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MoHS). The donation included 3 Toyota Hilux vehicles, 30 Blue Trunk Libraries (BTL), 2 XL motor bikes and 36 pairs of rain gears to support the activities of dif-ferent programmes of the Ministry.

The items were handed over by Dr Wondimagegnehu Alemu, WHO Representa-tive to Dr Alhassan Seisay, Deputy Chief Medical Officer of MoHS.

WHO Country Office in Sierra Leone conducted orientation for representatives of a coalition of civil society groups as part of ongoing efforts to increase public awareness on the prevention and control of Lassa fever in the country.

The orientation was to equip the coalition members from different parts of the coun-try with the basic facts about Lassa fever which they could use to sensitize communities in which they work.

The Executive Representative of the UN Secretary General (ERSG) in Sierra Leone, Mr Michael Voder Schulenburg and the WHO Representative Dr Wondimagegnehu Alemu, visited the National Reference Laboratory at Lakka on 8th August 2011.

The purpose was to acquaint the ERSG on the efforts of the MoHS in establishing a Public Health Reference Laboratory as part of the strengthening of national laboratory network. The site was refurbished with support from WHO, CDC, UNICEF and Global Fund through NAS and technical coordination by APHL.

The Health Education Division of the Ministry of Health and sanitation with support from the World Health Organization is developing a Five year National Health Promotion strategic Plan 2012-2017 that will guide health promotion activities in the country. The plan hopes to address risk factors and determi-nants of health that contribute to ill-health and premature deaths. It also articulates advocacy for sustained health promo-tion practices, documentation and dissemination of evidence based health information.

The World Health Organization in collaboration with the Mano River Un-ion (MRU) Secretariat and Ministry of Health and Sanitation conducted a four day Regional Conference in Freetown from 9-12 August 2011. The main objective of the meeting was to develop a strategic plan for the pre-vention and control of Lassa fever (LF) and other emerging infectious dis-eases in the West African Region.

WHO Country Office in Sierra Leone held a consultative meeting to discuss the 2012-2013 biennial work plan (BWP) with the Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MoHS) on 28 July 2011. The biennial work plan is prepared based on the National Health Sector Strategic Plan (NHSSP), the Agenda For Change (PRSP-2), the Country Cooperation Strategy, 2008-2013, the WHO African Region Strategic Direction and other global health priorities.

Sierra Leone commemorates World Breastfeeding Week from 1-7 Au-gust 2011 on the theme Talk to Me! Breastfeeding - a 3D experience. The theme highlights the importance of communication, information and experience sharing in protecting, promoting and supporting breastfeeding. The occasion was launched by the Minister of Health and Sanitation Hon Zainab Bangura. The MOHS also launched “We Pikin Network” (Our Children’s Network) initiatives which is a com-munity support group to promote exclusive breastfeeding.

Ministry of Health and Sanitation held its second quarter 2011 Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) review meeting on 21-22 July 2011. The objectives were to discuss surveillance performance at national and district levels and to prepare plan for the next quarter. Participants of meeting included Directors, Programme Managers, and District Medical Officers, National and District Surveillance Officers. WHO provided financial and technical support for the meeting.