Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone’s health system continues to suffer from the consequences of the civil war and the Ebola epidemic.

Aftermath of civil war and Ebola epidemic

After years of bloody civil war with tens of thousands of deaths, reconstruction began in 2000 following a peace agreement. The progress made was once again jeopardized in the following years, as the country was hit by a severe Ebola epidemic between 2014 and 2016 with almost 4,000 reported deaths.

The epidemic was one of the most devastating in history and had a significant impact on the population and the country's healthcare system.

Even today, Sierra Leone's healthcare system faces major challenges: There is a lack of financial resources in many places as well as a lack of medical professionals, especially in rural regions. As a result, people often do not receive the medical care they need, especially in the more remote rural regions. This poses an enormous risk, especially for mothers, pregnant women and infants: Sierra Leone has one of the highest maternal and infant mortality rates in the world.

In numbers: The situation in Sierra Leone

More than half of the population lives below the national poverty line
Almost 30 percent of the population is undernourished
Every tenth child dies before the age of five
The infant mortality rate is 78.3 per 1000
Maternal mortality is 717 per 100,000 births
Sierra Leone needs 3,000 midwives to provide adequate mother-child care - there are only 700

From disaster relief to sustainable development cooperation

action medeor's involvement in Sierra Leone began with the Ebola epidemic from 2014 to 2016. During the epidemic, action medeor supported health facilities with medicines and hygiene materials as well as protective equipment for medical staff to prevent the spread of this life-threatening disease. With the end of the epidemic, it was clear that Sierra Leone's health system urgently needed support to prevent outbreaks of this kind in the future. Another problem was that many of the victims of the epidemic were healthcare workers.

This is where action medeor's project work in Sierra Leone came in: Together with the local project partner, Caritas Bo, action medeor set up a midwifery school in the town of Bo and has since been supporting the training and further education of midwives in various projects. This commitment is already proving a great success: Since the graduation of the first class in 2019, more than 300 midwives and obstetricians have already completed their training at the school in Bo, many of whom have since been deployed at maternity wards and hospitals in rural regions of the country.

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With your donation for the work of action medeor, you help us to give people in countries like Sierra Leone access to healthcare! Support us in building health structures, minimizing the causes of disease and helping people around the world to lead healthy lives!