Sierra Leone News

Nutrition Stakeholders in Sierra Leone with leadership from the Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MoHS)  and technical support from WHO ended a 3 day micronutrient stakeholder consultative technical workshop on 12 April 2013 in Freetown. The meeting was held to engage partners to come up with concrete strategies and recommendations that will guide a successful conduct of the 2013 National Micronutrient Survey as well as to finalize the survey protocol. The opening session of the meeting was graced by Mr Foday Sawie, Deputy Minister-II of MoHS.

Sierra Leone will conduct first round 2013 Maternal and Child Health Week (MCHW) Campaign from 24-28 January 2013. Preparations for the campaign are underway. Trainings/orientations were done for Civil Soci-ety Organizations (CSOs), Independent Monitors (IM), National Super-visors, Zonal and District Teams. The media have also been briefed for awareness raising and social mobilizations activities including street to street announcements are ongoing. Trainings of vaccinators/distributors commenced on 22 and will end 23 January in all the districts.

The Ministries of Health of Sierra Leone and Guinea conducted a 3 day cross border meeting on cholera and other priority diseases prevention and control, in Makeni Sierra Leone from 31 October to 2 November 2012.

In Sierra Leone, the cholera outbreak is ongoing. As of September 11, 2012, a cumulative of 17,538 cases with 261 deaths giving a case fatality Rate of 1.5% was reported by the Directorate of Disease Prevention and Control.

According to daily reports, district that reported the highest number of cases include: Western Area (115), Bo (19) and Tonkolili (17). Western Area where the capital city Freetown is located continues to report most of the cholera cases.

Nationally the cholera incidence continues to show an upward trend particularly in Western Area which accounts for the majority of cases (49%). As of the 28 August 2012 the national cumulative for all eleven districts is 14,225 cases with 235 deaths (CFR=1.7). Western Area(163), Bombali (35), Tonkolili (22) and Port Loko (22) reported the highest number of cases.

Cholera situation in Sierra Leone - 29August 2012

As of 13 August 2012, 9,910 cholera cases, with 171 deaths have been reported by the Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MoHS) since January 2012. The Case Fatality Rate (CFR) has remained at 1.7%. The numbers of cases & deaths reported continue to rise with formerly low reporting districts (Tonkolili and Port Loko) recording higher numbers of cases and deaths.

Cholera situation in Sierra Leone - 14 August 2012

The Minister of Health and Sanitation (MoHS), Ms Miatta Kargbo conducted field visits to Kenema and Kailahun Districts on 28 June to assess the Ebola outbreak response activities in the districts. The Minister undertook the visit together with the WHO Representative in Sierra Leone, Dr Jacob Mufunda, and senior officials of MoHS including the Chief Medical Officer and a team of Directors and Managers from the Ministry. The media and civil society also formed part of the team.

Sierra Leone commemorated World AIDS 2013 Day (WAD) on 1 December 2013 on the theme No retreat on HIV. Deliver the promise. The event is one of the biggest health days that is commemorated every year in Sierra Leone and other countries to increase awareness and improve the fight against the HIV/AIDS. Every year the commemoration brings together local and international partners including the UN, the private sector and civil society.

Sierra Leone conducted post epidemic evaluation of the cholera outbreak that affected 12 out of the country’s 13 districts with a cumulative of 22,971 reported cases and 299 deaths and case fatality rate of 1.30 between January to December 2012. The evaluation was conducted in March 2013 with the objective to assess the overall  outbreak response and preparedness with a view of documenting lessons learned, identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats, and make recommendations.

The Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MoHS) in collaboration with its health sector partners validated 2013 Sector Annual Operational Plan (AOP) in a two day workshop held on 8-9 January 2013. The AOP was developed by consolidating 19 Local Council Health Plans, 21 Hospital Plans and the Central Level Plan which were individually validated and finalized in November 2012 with the input of the health sector partners. The initial validation processes helped the sector to align and endorse plans at all levels based on the available resource envelop.