Bonthe is among the districts that have benefited from huge consignment of drugs under the Presidential Recovery Priority.The drugs have been distributed in all the 55 Peripheral Health Units (PHUs) such as community health centres and maternal and child health posts, as well as the main referral hospitals in the district.The drugs were part of a long-awaited consignment as part of the package of free medical treatment for mothers and babies under President Koroma’s Presidential Priority Recovery Plan.Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in the district have applauded the distribution of the drugs explaining that what they have been advocating for has finally come to reality.Joseph Lamin works for Health Alert in Bonthe, a health advocacy civil society organisation. Joseph said his organisation is a member of the recently established Bonthe CSOs Forum which was formed with support from Options Consultancy Services managing the E4A-MamaYe and PMEL Improving Reproductive, Maternal and Newborn Health (IRMNH) Programmes aims to contribute to a reduction in maternal and neonatal mortality in Sierra Leone. The programme started in March 2012 and is funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and implemented by UNFPA, UNICEF and Marie Stopes Sierra Leone.The drugs distribution exercise was captured and shared in the CSOs WhatsApp Forum. In 2010, the Government started doing regular Facility Improvement Team (FIT) assessments of health centres and hospitals across the country. Overall, the indicators comprised the enabling environment in which UN-recommended signal functions of EmONC are performed.The assessments have helped in in contributing to improve health sector in the country by highlighting where there are deficits in equipment, staff, drugs, electricity and hygiene, especially in their ability provide safe environments for mothers and babies around the time of birth. The findings are summarised in scorecards, and health partners now use FIT scorecards to identify health care gaps in order to address them.Dr. Santigie Sesay the Director of Reproductive and Child Health Ministry of Health and Sanitation has said FIT scorecard is an important part of the evidence used to help guide the Presidential Recovery Plans on health. The plan aims to save the lives of 600 women and 5000 children by 2018.The Government is currently focusing on access and services at the community level, rolling out an enhanced Community Health Worker (CHW) programme that will support pregnant women to access services and deliver essential drugs such as malaria treatment to children. This new programme will ensure that no Sierra Leonean will find themselves more than 5km from a health worker. As set out in the post Ebola Recovery Plan, the Government commitments included a statement that no health facilities should have stock outs of essential drugs. It also committed to equipping twenty-nine facilities to care for pregnant women and newborn babies (25 ‘basic’ and 4 ‘comprehensive’ facilities) which will be brought up to proper standards, including sanitation and hygiene facilities.The Government has further supported the establishment of a tracking system, the Maternal Deaths Surveillance and Response System, to investigate all maternal deaths, and take the necessary actions.The Ministry of Health and Sanitation is now funding all maternal death surveillance and Response meetings at national and district levels. The Government has installed hundreds of solar powered refrigerators to store vaccines and other medicines in hard-to-reach communities.The Impact of FIT is very glaring and it is an exercise the government needs to continue as CSOs and health partners are now using FIT to understand the gaps in the health sector and engage the relevant stakeholders in order to address them.
Bonthe is among the districts that have benefited from huge consignment of drugs under the Presidential Recovery Priority.The drugs have been distributed in all the 55 Peripheral Health Units (PHUs) such as community health centres and maternal and child health posts, as well as the main referral hospitals in the district.The drugs were part of a long-awaited consignment as part of the package of free medical treatment for mothers and babies under President Koroma’s Presidential Priority Recovery Plan.Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in the district have applauded the distribution of the drugs explaining that what they have been advocating for has finally come to reality.Joseph Lamin works for Health Alert in Bonthe, a health advocacy civil society organisation. Joseph said his organisation is a member of the recently established Bonthe CSOs Forum which was formed with support from Options Consultancy Services managing the E4A-MamaYe and PMEL Improving Reproductive, Maternal and Newborn Health (IRMNH) Programmes aims to contribute to a reduction in maternal and neonatal mortality in Sierra Leone. The programme started in March 2012 and is funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and implemented by UNFPA, UNICEF and Marie Stopes Sierra Leone.The drugs distribution exercise was captured and shared in the CSOs WhatsApp Forum. In 2010, the Government started doing regular Facility Improvement Team (FIT) assessments of health centres and hospitals across the country. Overall, the indicators comprised the enabling environment in which UN-recommended signal functions of EmONC are performed.The assessments have helped in in contributing to improve health sector in the country by highlighting where there are deficits in equipment, staff, drugs, electricity and hygiene, especially in their ability provide safe environments for mothers and babies around the time of birth. The findings are summarised in scorecards, and health partners now use FIT scorecards to identify health care gaps in order to address them.Dr. Santigie Sesay the Director of Reproductive and Child Health Ministry of Health and Sanitation has said FIT scorecard is an important part of the evidence used to help guide the Presidential Recovery Plans on health. The plan aims to save the lives of 600 women and 5000 children by 2018.The Government is currently focusing on access and services at the community level, rolling out an enhanced Community Health Worker (CHW) programme that will support pregnant women to access services and deliver essential drugs such as malaria treatment to children. This new programme will ensure that no Sierra Leonean will find themselves more than 5km from a health worker. As set out in the post Ebola Recovery Plan, the Government commitments included a statement that no health facilities should have stock outs of essential drugs. It also committed to equipping twenty-nine facilities to care for pregnant women and newborn babies (25 ‘basic’ and 4 ‘comprehensive’ facilities) which will be brought up to proper standards, including sanitation and hygiene facilities.The Government has further supported the establishment of a tracking system, the Maternal Deaths Surveillance and Response System, to investigate all maternal deaths, and take the necessary actions.The Ministry of Health and Sanitation is now funding all maternal death surveillance and Response meetings at national and district levels. The Government has installed hundreds of solar powered refrigerators to store vaccines and other medicines in hard-to-reach communities.The Impact of FIT is very glaring and it is an exercise the government needs to continue as CSOs and health partners are now using FIT to understand the gaps in the health sector and engage the relevant stakeholders in order to address them.