By Foday Moriba Conteh
Health Alert Sierra Leone, a local civil society organization specialized in health development advocacy and accountability programming in the country, with funds from Population Action International (PAI) USA, has on Tuesday 25th July, 2023 concluded a one-day consultation meeting with RMNCAH+N CSOs & Youth Coalition members and health sector stakeholders on the Global Financing Facility activities in the country.
The one-day consultation meeting which was geared towards strengthening advocacy efforts for women, children and adolescent health in the country was held at the Civil Service Training College on Tower Hill in Freetown.
The consultation meeting is a start of the implementation of a one-year project titled: “Promoting Social Accountability for Improved Health Service Delivery in Sierra Leone”, which is supported by Population Action International (PAI) and will be implemented by Health Alert Sierra Leone in the country.
Speaking during the ceremony, the Executive Director of Health Alert Sierra Leone, Victor Lansana Koroma, said the project is geared towards increasing investment in health in order to provide quality health service delivery and promote social accountability for the improvement of women, children and adolescents health through the implementation of the GFF investment case and the RMINCAH strategy for the attainment of universal health coverage in Sierra Leone.
He said that the Global Financing Facility (GFF) is a multi-stakeholder partnership established to accelerate progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.
According to him, the GFF operates in 36 countries with high maternal and child mortality rates and aims to strengthen health systems and improve the health and well-being of women, children, and adolescents.
The Executive Director said the project will be implemented in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, adding that the project came about when various civil society organizations came together to look at how the Global Financing Facility will positively impact health service delivering in the country.
He stated that Population Action International (PAI) is a US based organization that is also looking at Civil Society Organizations around the world that are promoting social accountability and decided to support Health Alert Sierra Leone in order to implement the project.
Victor Lansana Koroma maintained that promoting social accountability in the health sector is very important and that through the project they will engage stakeholders in the various districts where the project will be implemented and these districts include Bonthe, Falaba, Kailahun, Western Rural and Tonkolili in order to look at health service delivery.
He stated that as part of the activities of the project they will be training 50 RMNCAH-CSOs and youth on SAMT to monitor the WB/GFF funding process and also organize meetings with World Bank and GFF focal points to update on the funding priorities.
He concluded by stating that one of the key approaches of the project is to strengthen service delivery systems, particularly primary health care, to save lives and achieve universal health coverage as well as sustainable development goals.
The Senior Public Sister, National Secretariat for the Reduction of Teenage Pregnancy at the Ministry of Health, Adama Conteh, commended Health Alert Sierra Leone for their tremendous work over the years towards enhancing social accountability within the health sector in the country.
She said that during the Ebola outbreak in 2014 there was an increase in teenage pregnancy which resulted to the establishment of the National Secretariat for the Reduction of Teenage Pregnancy in the country.
Adama Conteh said that it is evident that there are challenges especially with regards service delivery within the health sector in the country and that she is with the strong conviction that with the implementation of the project in the country some of the issues relating to service delivering will be mitigated.
The Grant Officer at the Integrated Health Project Administration Unit, (IHPAU), Mohamed Jalloh, said that IHAPAU is a unit within the Ministry of Health that is managing funds for the Ministry.
He said that the Integrated Health Project Administration Unit has five donors including the World Bank, Islamic Development Bank, Global fund, CDC etc.
Mohamed Jalloh also commended Health Alert Sierra Leone for holding the one-day consultation meeting with RMNCAH+N CSOs & Youth Coalition members and health sector stakeholders on the Global Financing Facility activities in the country which he described as very important towards enhancing social accountability within the health sector in the country.
He assured of IHAPAU’s support towards the implementation of the “Promoting Social Accountability for Improved Health Service Delivery in Sierra Leone” Project.
