Sierra Leone News

Directorate of Disease Prevention and Control in Ministry of Health and Sanitation with assistance from the WHO and CDC conducted a two day workshop to develop a national surveil-lance, preparedness and response strategic plan for Sierra Leone. This is the first consensus building workshops and was attended by Directors, hospital and programme Managers, laboratory technicians, medical officers and health sector partners.

World Health Day is commemorated in Sierra Leone with the theme of Combat Drug Resistance: “No action today, No cure tomorrow” on 7 April 2011. The Ministry of Health and Sanitation organized a high level symposium to deliberate on the threat of drug resistance in the country.

The Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MoHS) with support from WHO initiated the first step to establish system aimed at contributing to the hu-man security and development. Experts were drawn from all WHO levels to assist the country to conduct a situation analysis that led to a roadmap in health sector risk reduction and emergency management (DRM).

Sierra Leone launched the first round of polio National Immunization Days (NIDs) Campaign 2012 in Waterloo on 23 March 2012. Hon Borbor Sawyer, Deputy Minister of Health and Sanitation launched the campaign, which will run from 23-26 March 2012. Delivering his state-ment, the Hon Deputy Minister said, “the community must ensure that the campaign is successfully delivered to ensure our children are pro-tected from the discomforting challenges of permanent disability”. He further reaffirmed Sierra Leone’s commitment “to remain a strong party to the global polio eradication effort”.

Sierra Leone joined the global community in commemorating World Mental Health Day on the theme: mental health and Long Term Illnesses: The Need for Continued and Integrated Care. The day is commemorated annually to raise awareness on mental health issues. The day was observed with broadcast statement, a float parade and an a formal ceremony.

The ministry of health and sanitation has launched the Basic Package of Es-sential Health Services to improve health service delivery in the country espe-cially for women and children.

The package highlights the government’s pri-ority health interventions and provides guidance on the essential services re-quired by patients at each level of health care delivery. The Ministry devel-oped the document with support from health development partners including the UN country team (WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA etc).

As part of its continued demonstration of commitment to strength-ening the country’s health systems and a successful Free Health Care Service delivery, the WHO on Wednesday 8th September handed over items worth $126,000 to the Ministry of Health and Sanitation.

The items that were donated included computers and accessories, brand new Toyota Hilux, motor bikes and their full gears. This is not the first time WHO is making such a good will gesture. 

The Ministry of Health and Sanitation with support from WHO hosted a one day advocacy meeting on Framework for Tobacco Control (FCTC) on 16 Sep. 2010. The meeting targeted parliamentarians, civil society, media, the National Revenue Authority. The purpose of the meeting was to sensitise participants on health risk associated with tobacco products and the need to control their production, processing and importation into the country. Presentations were made by experts from MOHS and WHO (WCO & IST/WA) on relevant topics.

Proceeding of the National consultative meeting on the WHO Global Health Sector Strategy for HIV/AIDS 2011-2015, Sierra Leone

The national consultative meeting was held at the WHO Country office conference room on September 1, 2010. The purpose of the meeting was to obtain the contributions of national stakeholders on the global health sector strategy for HIV/AIDS, 2011-2015. The approach followed the guidance provided by the regional office to organize the consultative process.

The World Health Organisation Office in Sierra Leone on Wednesday 1st Sept 2010 organised a consultative meeting to obtain contributions of na-tional stakeholders on the Global Health Sector Strategy for HIV/AIDS 2011-2015. The national consultation is part of the global consultation process.