Sierra Leone News

State House, Freetown, Sierra Leone – March 7, 2025 – President Julius Maada Bio received a delegation led by the Minister of Health, Dr. Austin Demby, comprising representatives from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Chief Medical Officer, and the Executive Director of the National Public Health Agency to announce and discuss implementation of activities of the $20 million from the Pandemic Fund.

Freetown, Sierra Leone – February 25, 2025 – Sierra Leone reinforces its combat against mpox with the arrival of 61,300 vaccine doses on February 25, 2025. This vital shipment, secured through the collaborative efforts of the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, GAVI, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), and other partners, following a total of 29 confirmed mpox cases nationwide since the onset of this outbreak.

Moyamba District, Sierra Leone – February 2025 – In a notable effort to revolutionize healthcare delivery, the Ministry of Health, with support from the World Health Organization (WHO), conducted a comprehensive Quality Improvement (QI) training workshop in Moyamba District from February 17th to 21st, 2025.

Freetown ‒ Sierra Leone is deploying a range of measures to control and end an outbreak of mpox in which 20 cases have so far been reported since the disease was confirmed on 13 January 2025.

Freetown, Sierra Leone: From 3–7 February 2025, the Government of Sierra Leone, in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO), hosted a regional study tour for representatives from six Francophone countries—Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and Niger—to observe firsthand the country’s successful implementation of the WHO Package of Essential Noncommunicable (PEN) Disease Interventions for Primary Health Care (PEN-Plus) strategy in Kono District.

In an ongoing effort to eliminate cervical cancer, the Ministry of Health (MoH), in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) Sierra Leone, organized a crucial screening initiative during Cervical Cancer Awareness Month - January. This initiative focused on underserved communities, encouraging women aged 25-49 to take advantage of essential screening services.

Sierra Leone’s National Codex Committee (NCC) enhanced its capacity to engage in national, regional, and international Codex activities, contributing to stronger food safety governance and public health protection. This achievement was made possible through the collaborative efforts of the NCC, with technical support from the World Health Organization (WHO) and funding from the Codex Trust Fund Secretariat.

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.