On February 2, 2017, the Government of Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Health and Sanitation launched the revised Community Health Worker Policy, 2016-2020.
Advancing Partners & Communities has been an active partner in the Community Health Workers (CHWs) policy revision process, offering ongoing technical assistance to the Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MOHS) of Sierra Leone.
One of the biggest challenges throughout the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone was a lack of water and sanitation, which led to poor implementation of infection prevention and control (IPC) measures at health facilities. In the post-Ebola context, as the country moves forward with its Health Sector Recovery Plan, water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) is a priority.
Following the Ebola epidemic, Sierra Leone faces challenges to rebuilding its community health system. This infographic helps explain the challenges of delivering community maternal and child health services in a post-Ebola context.
Safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene are critical for people’s health and well-being, especially to reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health. Advancing Partners & Communities is excited to launch part one of a two-part compelling, original video series showcasing the work in Sierra Leone to improve primary health care services at health posts and community levels. This first video focuses on the efforts needed to rebuild these services as part of the post-Ebola transition in the country. Handwashing with soap is a critical way to protect communities from the future spread of the Ebola virus and other diseases.
In Sierra Leone, APC works through a grant from USAID’s “Ebola Response and Preparedness” funds to support the Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MOHS) implement its 2015–2020 Health Sector Recovery Plan. The project’s goal is to strengthen community-based non-Ebola health services, with emphasis on reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health (RMNCH).
Fatmata, an MCH-aide assumed responsibility for a health post affected by Ebola in Sierra Leone, leaving behind her own community to help one with a greater need.
The Advancing Partners & Communities project welcomed a delegation of Ebola survivors to Washington, D.C. on Monday, October 3, 2016. Led by the Honorable Dr. Sylvia Blyden, Minister of Social Welfare, Gender & Children’s Affairs, Republic of Sierra Leone, the delegation will meet with representatives from JSI Research and Training Institute, Inc. (JSI), the White House, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the National Institute of Health, and more to tell their stories and bring awareness to issues in the aftermath of the Ebola epidemic in West Africa.
The Ebola Transmission Prevention and Survivor Services Program (ETP & SS) launched in July 2016 and is operating under the umbrella of priorities set by USAID’s Global Health Ebola Team. The program works with ministries of health and nongovernmental organizations in regions of Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea that are most affected by the Ebola outbreak.
On Friday August 9, 2016 representatives from the Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MOHS) and USAID visited the newly rehabilitated Fullah Town community health post (CHP) in the Makari Gbanti Chiefdom, Bombali district. The aim of the visit was to review the health post’s progress and observe first hand changes in facility service delivery and use.
On February 2, 2017, the Government of Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Health and Sanitation launched the revised Community Health Worker Policy, 2016-2020.