MamaYe Water and Safe Clinics Policy Brief for Sierra Leone

Ensuring that there is clean water and good sanitation available in clinics is essential for providing quality care and, in turn, improving the survival of mothers and babies. This fact is paramount in Sierra Leone, which is one of the worst places to give birth in the world.This is a policy brief developed by MamaYe Sierra Leone calling for policy makers to take action to ensure that clinics have clean water and good sanitation available. Key messages include:

• Reducing infection through the provision of safe water and good hygiene practices could save at least 1 out of the every 7 women who die daily in Sierra Leone from childbirth.
• Every year in Sierra Leone an estimated 460 women and 550 newborn babies lose their lives to infections acquired at the time of birth or shortly after.
• Less than half of government designated maternity health facilities meet the standards for clean water and sanitation.
• Low cost interventions such as access to safe piped water can prevent deaths caused by infections.
• Stronger partnership between relevant ministries and donors to consolidate and reprioritize investment in water and sanitation needs to be mediated by government

To read the policy brief, click here.To read more facts and figures about the importance of clean water, sanitation and hygiene for maternal and newborn survival, click here.  Evidence for Action. (2014). MamaYe Policy Brief Water and Safe Clinics: Sierra Leone. London & Freetown: E4A