MSF has been supporting Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Health and Sanitation with its COVID-19 preparedness and response plan since February 2020. As a partner at the Emergency Operation Centre, MSF continues to provide advice for case management and surveillance.  

We have assisted in setting up isolation wards and have donated medical equipment, medicines and cleaning materials to a number of healthcare facilities. As the main hospital designated for COVID-19 cases is currently full, we are providing technical guidance in setting up alternative venues to treat asymptomatic or mild cases. 

In Tonkolili, where Sierra Leone’s first confirmed case originated, we are assisting with contact tracing and follow- up for all contacts, referring additional cases, and ensuring isolation preparedness. 

In the capital Freetown, an MSF epidemiologist is assisting with surveillance activities including contact tracing, staff training, and advising on data collection strategies. Meanwhile our water and sanitation and construction specialists have begun work on repurposing a government facility into a 120-bed COVID-19 treatment centre.  

In southern Kenema District, MSF has completed its assessment at Kenema Government Hospital in preparation for opening a COVID-19 treatment centre. We have also donated handwashing stations to 42 villages in the area after meeting with community representatives.   

Our projects in Kenema, Gorama Mende, and Wandor are providing regular donations of infection prevention and control supplies to health facilities as part of their standard operations. Health promotion activities are continuing and are now following physical distancing regulations and focusing on COVID-19. Health messages have been sent out via newspapers and radio stations, including a health promotion song recorded by an MSF clinical health officer.

In the northern regions, MSF has set up isolation wards in Makeni Regional Hospital, Magburaka Hospital, and Hinistas Community Health Centre, Tonkolili.

Sierra Leone experienced substantial economic growth in the years following a decade-long civil war. However, the 2014-2015 Ebola epidemic had a disastrous effect on the country's economy, education system, and healthcare infrastructure.

Médecins Sans Frontières began working in Sierra Leone in 1986, and current projects aim to contribute to the recovery of the health system following the Ebola outbreak and combat high mortality rates among children and pregnant women.

MSF teams work in a number of districts across the country, providing medical care, staff training, and supplies for health units.

Ebola Recovery

Sierra Leone has some of the worst health indicators in the world, especially for maternal and child mortality. Even before the Ebola outbreak, people in Sierra Leone had limited access to medical care and the health system was both under-resourced and overburdened.  

It is estimated that up to 10% of the country’s already limited health professionals were killed by the virus. In Kenema district alone, more than 200 health workers died of the disease.

Why are we there?

• Endemic/epidemic disease
• Healthcare exclusion

Latest links

• West Africa: Ebola epidemic now out of control
• West Africa: Resurgence of epidemic Ebola
• Sierra Leone: Slum Environment worsens spread of cholera

Our work

This is an extract from our latest Activity Report, looking back on our work in the previous year.

2012

An ambulance referral system and access to 24-hour emergency obstetric care has drastically reduced maternal deaths in Bo district, Sierra Leone.

A policy of free healthcare for children under five and pregnant and breastfeeding women was introduced in 2010, but real improvements in access for these groups have not yet been achieved.

Many health facilities are understaffed, underequipped and lack medical expertise, and high numbers of preventable maternal and child deaths in the country are a result of a lack of access to healthcare.

Gondama referral centre

In Bo, Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) runs a 220-bed obstetric and paediatric hospital, the Gondama referral centre.

Five ambulances transport pregnant women and children from nine community health centres. Another ambulance refers patients with complications from Gondama to the capital, Freetown.

Yet another is a specialised ambulance that brings patients to the Lassa fever unit at Kenema hospital. Lassa fever is a viral haemorrhagic fever that affects several organs in the body.

A study published by MSF in November showed that the rate of maternal deaths in Bo district is now 61 per cent lower than in the rest of the country.

Cholera emergency

Between July and September, MSF responded to a cholera outbreak that was concentrated in Freetown, and provided treatment for 5,000 patients across four treatment centres.

MSF also supported the Ministry of Health to treat 427 patients at Bo government hospital.

At the end of 2012, MSF had 556 staff in Sierra Leone. MSF has worked in the country since 1986.

Patient story

Jenneba, 26 years old

“This is my third pregnancy. I have had two miscarriages before. Last night I felt pain, so an ambulance picked me up from the health centre and took me to Gondama. The nurse in the ambulance held my hand and talked to me nicely during the ride.

The nurses at the hospital examined me and said that I wasn’t in labour yet. I am still in pain and very worried about what is happening. If I lose this baby, I am worried that my husband will leave me.”

Jenneba’s son was born by caesarean section 10 days later.

To gain people’s trust in the health system, MSF is working alongside the Ministry of Health in training local staff, providing medical stocks and reaching out to far-flung communities, in order to minimise the number of deaths by preventable causes – particularly among women and children.

Find out more about Sierra Leone