In a conference to review the national food and nutrition policy in Sierra Leone in early April, Deputy Health and Sanitation Minister Mohamed Daudis Koroma announced an overall improvement in the nutritional status of children under the age of five. Koroma addressed a body of participants that included the Acting Chief Medical Officer Dr. Kisito Daoh, the UNICEF Nutrition Manager Sefano Sebele, and the Senior Permanent Secretary Ministry of Health Edward Bai Kamara. The conference was organized with support from the Ministry of Health and UNICEF.
Koroma described many causes of malnutrition in Sierra Leone, including poverty and lack of education. Koroma also stressed the need for a plan of action that would address malnutrition’s effect on infection in children. As children become more and more vulnerable to simple infections due to malnutrition, the mortality rate of children under five continues to be the highest in the world (click here for UNICEF’s State of the World’s Children report). For the three days of the conference, Koroma encouraged participants to create goals in the areas of agriculture, livestock, fisheries, forestry, and health education to fully analyze the state of nutrition in Sierra Leone.
Click here for WHO child malnutrition estimates in Sierra Leone.
Dr. Daoh emphasized the toll that malnutrition takes on women and young children. Dr. Daoh hoped to create a document that would outline the needs of the people of Sierra Leone. Such a document would then be used to create health policies that would address malnutrition. Sebele discussed the food and nutrition security, describing it as a “critical challenge”. Kamara went a step further, describing food as a “human right”. Kamara also noted that the Ministry plays a leading role in the process, as malnutrition belies healthy development of the country.
Full article here
Conference Addressing Malnutrition Hopes to Influence Health Policy
April 14th, 2009UK to Provide £16m to Sierra Leone Government Health Program
April 6th, 2009The UK is providing the Sierra Leone Government with £16m (approximately $23.75 million) for the Reproductive and Child Health program (RCH), which was launched by the Sierra Leone Ministry of Health and Sanitation in 2008.
According to Ivan Lewis, minister of the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), “The lives of many mothers could be saved with access to basic health care and the help of a midwife – things that are normal for us but out-of-reach for the world’s poorest.” The RCH program will provide training for new midwives, and access to better clinics and basic drugs - fundamental changes that can be expected to save thousands of lives. The plan also includes a program of increased immunizations, malaria awareness, and the promotion of basic hygiene to reduce the number of preventable deaths from diarrhea.
From the DFID press release:
“The £16m funding from the UK will support:
* emergency obstetric care for pregnant women - this will include access to medical facilities, trained midwives and advice on family planning. The programme funded jointly with the UN will also give a fresh push on immunisation against diseases like measles and tetanus and create a feeding programme to provide nutrition to those who are suffering malnutrition.
* direct support to primary health clinics and district hospitals - DFID and the World Bank will create a pool fund to provide health care facilities run by district councils with direct funding to deliver basic health services.
* effective resource management - DFID will provide technical assistance to ensure money is spent on what it is intended for by rooting out payments to “ghost workers” and tracking how resources are spent.
* urgent roll out to priority districts - short-term funding will be provided to a group of NGOs to ensure the Reproductive and Child Health Plan is implemented as quickly as possible in five priority areas of Sierra Leone (Bo, Tonkolili, Bombali, Koinadugu, Kono).
Women Succesfully Implement Village Toilets
March 2nd, 2009
Toilet built by villagers in Kamayintin village
In the district of Bombali, one village has a brand new toilet. In Kamayintin, Kadiatou Samura has successfully built her family’s first latrine. With the help of her fellow villagers, Samura has drastically reduced the number of illnesses the children of her village are contracting.
The overall goal of the latrine project is to declare villages across Sierra Leone as “open-defecation-free”. UNICEF aims to roll out the initiative through all 10 districts of the country by 2010, with help from ActionAid, Plan International, Oxfam, and GOAL. Just one-third of rural Sierra Leoneans have access to clean water and sanitation, according to UNICEF’s Victor Kinyanjui. Sierra Leone’s population in rural villages typically rely on the nearby rivers and open spaces for urination and defecation. These rivers are also the source of cooking and bathing water, and often, “open defecation” means that children are relieving themselves directly in front of the hut where they live, near kitchens. The normal roadblock in the process of creating more latrines is usually the money and coordination required for outside organizations and the government to build the latrines in villages.
The new model allows for the villagers to find local materials, labor, and money to build the latrines themselves. Outside officials, such as sanitation experts, only supply the research and knowledge needed for the villagers to learn what type of toilet would suit both the village budget and topography of the land. Kadiatou Samura’s toilet, with an earthen floor, local wood walls, and straw roof, was essentially free to create. According to UNICEF’s Victor Kinyanjui, a standard modern toilet would cost approximately $100 (the equivalent of one third an average Sierra Leonean’s annual salary).
Bombali district women’s leader, Kadiatou Kamu, insists that the women of the village must be vigilant about the maintenance of the toilets. “Before our children were defecating near our kitchens – it got on our food. We women have been careless, but we do the work. When Papa is around he can shout why is this place filthy? But he will not clean up the kaka from his child,” she said. While there have been some concerns about the new toilets from District councilor Eric Ceesa, who finds the toilets to be poorly ventilated, inconveniently located, and an attraction for snakes, UNICEF’s Victor Kinyanjui believes that once the villagers become aware of the rapidity with which the latrines can be built within the villages’ means, the toilets will be built throughout the country. The lack of affordability for subsidized toilets dramatically slows down the process of creating greater accessibility to clean water, as Sierra Leone works to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.
Source, IRIN
