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Sierra Leone is recovering from the impact of the Ebola Virus Disease outbreak which struck in mid 2014. Before Ebola, the country had made steady progress towards a number of the Millennium Development Goal targets in the health and nutrition sectors like reduction in child and maternal mortality.  A 2014 National Nutrition Survey also confirmed major improvements in levels of under-nutrition. (Ref: Sierra Leone Ebola Recovery Strategy).

The health sector, notwithstanding the successes scored, has been faced with a number of challenges. In fact due to Ebola, by January 2015, a total of 296 health care workers were known to have been infected with the virus with 221 deaths (74.6 percent). The outbreak, health experts believe, led to a decline in the use of health care facilities for non-Ebola related health needs across the country.

Staff of the Ministry of Health and Sanitation together with partners over the weekend concluded a three-day annual performance review.
Held at CATCO Hall, Wilkinson Road, various cadre of staff including international and local partners were opportune to table and mirror activities as well as programmes implemented to see the challenges and success made in 2015.
At the formal opening of the review, Alhassan Kanu from the Health Sector, Directorate of Planning stated that the objective is to provide a comprehensive picture of the ministry’s performance  generally as well as highlighting the status of the 6-9 months implementation, to document the implementation challenges for the ministerial performance contract, individual senior officials’ performance and service delivery at su

The three West African nations ravaged by Ebola could struggle to prevent another major outbreak as vigilance fades among health workers and the public, a health expert said on Monday.

Ebola victims in recent flare-ups in Liberia and Sierra Leone were inspected by health workers who were not wearing protective clothing, while the corpse of one woman victim was washed by several people, contrary to best practice.

Health facilities must reinforce infection prevention and control measures or risk widening the spread of new Ebola outbreaks, according to Armand Sprecher, public health specialist at medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF).