By Foday Moriba Conteh
During the launch of the National Health Summit &Recognition Award 2022 on the theme: “Transforming Health Care Delivery Toward Universal Health Coverage” by the Ministry of Health and Sanitation and Partners at the Ministry of Information and Communications Conference Hall at Youyi Building on Brookfields in Freetown, one of the leading mobile telecommunications in the country, Africell Sierra Leone pledged their support to the Ministry of Health and Sanitation to support the upcoming National Health Summit and Recognition Award 2022 which is slated to take place on the 7th, 8th & 9th April 2022 at the Bintumani Conference Centre in Freetown.
Speaking during the launch, the Managing Director of Africell Sierra Leone, Shadi Gerjawi, said that Africell was particularly attracted to the theme for the summit which is: “Transforming Health Care Delivery toward Universal Health Coverage”, adding that in the telecommunications industry the theme has terminologies that are commonplace which they utilize in terms of setting their yearly targets.
He maintained that they are driven by the quest to ensure communication is accessible to the most remote communities in the country and in all of this, they see Africell as a strategic development partner that has provided the requisite tools which the Ministry of Health and Sanitation has utilized and will continue to make use of.
The Managing Director stated that Africell has, “Support to Health” as a key CSR pillar and that is why they were amongst the first responders to provide the much-needed support when an unfortunate disaster occurred referencing the November 5 fire disaster at PMB junction, Wellington, where in its wake they provided food and medical supplies to the victims that were admitted at Connaught Hospital in Freetown.
“In providing access to communication and Universal Coverage, the company is involved in an extensive coverage expansion drive connecting thousands of communities nationwide. These communities when connected will be able to seek health-related information by going to Community Health Centers (CHC),” he revealed.
He suggested that the Government of Sierra Leone and its development partners can eliminate fraud and ghost beneficiaries among the service delivery infrastructure by utilizing the AfriMoney platform to pay their workforce or beneficiaries, adding that as they continue with their expansion, and as the Ministry of Health and Sanitation works towards transforming health care delivery to achieve universal health coverage, it is important to note that as a private sector partner, their expansion cannot be done in isolation. It would require a concerted effort from the Government of Sierra Leone, development partner, and other private sector players.
He pointed out that these possibilities are all geared towards ensuring that as a sector leader they continue to lead with seamless transformation, prompt delivery, and un-segregated access to their services through universal coverage saying together they can reach the unreachable, deliver and serve the people and Nation of Sierra Leone.
“I wish the Minister of Health and Sanitation, Dr. Austin Demby and his team all the best as they prepare to host what will arguably be the largest and first ever health summit in Sierra Leone to determine from the workforce on the ground how to successfully Transform Health Care Delivery Toward Universal Health Coverage in Sierra Leone. You can count on Africell for technical and branding support before and during the summit,” he concluded.
Launching the National Health Summit & Recognition Award 2022, the Minister of Health and Sanitation,Dr. Austin Demby, noted that as investments in health sector is made by the Government, Local Councils, faith-based partners, NGOs as well as their bilateral and multilateral organizations, there is a need for them to focus on Health outcomes and agree on targets they should all work towards ensuring that the population attains the optimum benefit for their limited resources.
Commenting on why the Health Summit, he maintained that their current Mission as a Ministry is to transform the health sector from an under- resourced, ill-equipped and inadequate healthcare delivery system into an adequately resourced and functioning national delivery system that is affordable and accessible to all, especially the most vulnerable segment of the population.
Adding that to do this, all key stakeholders in the socio-economic development space of Sierra Leone and all decision makers in the health sector must urgently and collaboratively develop a workable formula and that it should focus on improving service delivery.
He pointed out that when done properly, this will ameliorate the high morbidity and mortality rates, whilst improving accountability and efficiency, increase coverage, and uptake of health services, continuing that the partners have agreed on the need for a major transformative effort to move faster towards realizing the goals set in the 2030 Agenda.
He also maintained that the Summit will provide the space and opportunity to facilitate discussions among the Ministry of Health and Sanitation and its stakeholders including Health Development partners, other Government MDAs, NGOs and beneficiaries to deliberate on key achievements, challenges, opportunities and recommendations to
accelerate progress towards achieving manifesto commitments.
“The summit will end with an award ceremony to recognize the efforts of outstanding staff, facilities, partners and individuals in the health sector. The Health Summit will be divided into 3 stages; Pre-summit Summit which shall be held few days (around 31 March 2022) before the Summit to discuss presentations, the process and possible issues of contention that can derail the Summit if not addressed,” he added.
