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11 October 2024

Polio: Your questions answered

What is Polio? Polio is a highly infectious disease caused by the poliovirus, which mainly affects children under the age of 5. The virus can cause lifelong paralysis and, in severe cases, can be fatal.   How do children get infected with Polio? Children can contract polio if they are not fully vaccinated . T...

Community Health Workers now empowered with basic skills of controlling pandemic diseases

Falaba – Mohamed Kamara, a Community Health Worker (CHW) of Dukuray village in Falaba District, northern Sierra Leone, walked briskly towards the home of Dauda Samura, a cattle farmer who was relaxing with his 6 months old baby on the veranda of their hut on a sunny afternoon. “If you notice any unusual signs on y...

Providing Water for Enhanced Infection Prevention and Control at Mapaki Community Health Centre

Mapaki - In the soft light of early morning, the Mapaki Community Health Centre (CHC) buzzes with the quiet energy of a new day. Within its walls, Namina Conteh, a seasoned Traditional Birth Attendant, tends to a new mother, Adamsay Conteh, and her newborn. As dawn breaks, Namina's hands cradle the tiny bundle tha...

24 October 2023

Safe waste disposal: a key to Infection Prevention and Control in Sierra Leone

Masongbo – It is the end of the weekly under-five immunisation session at the Masongbo Community Health Centre (CHC). Fatmata Kanu, a cleaner at the centre, gathers all sharps disposal boxes used during the session and takes them to the back of the facility for disposal in the newly constructed incinerators. ...

Thousands of children under five in Moyamba District reached with critical life-saving interventions

Moyamba – Thirty-year-old mother of two, Helen Gbatima of Taima village, Moyamba District, looks adorably at her eight-month-old baby boy, Ibrahim, as she spoon-feeds him with a cup full of corn soya blended porridge by the doorstep of their home. Ibrahim has just recovered from a short bout of malnutrition a...

06 December 2022

Oxygen plant breathes a new lease of life for patients in Makeni

Makeni – At the Special Care Baby Unit at Makeni Hospital in the northern region of Sierra Leone, six prematurely born babies sleep peacefully while receiving oxygen support to help them survive.  Four of the babies have difficulty breathing on their own, so tubes have been placed through their noses to help ...

27 February 2022

Changing the future of Goderich communities through WASH support

In 2018, Bendu Charles and her family moved to New London, a slum community which sprouted in Goderich, Western Area District of Sierra Leone. The proximity to the seashore made New London an attractive settlement for fishermen like Bendu’s husband, who sought to live closer to their source of livelihood.  Ho...

14 December 2021

With support from USAID, UNICEF donates 77 solar powered refrigerators to the Ministry of Health and Sanitation to strengthen the cold chain system

Freetown, Sierra Leone – Working collaboratively to strengthen the cold chain system of the country’s Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) and reduce infant and under-five mortality rates in Sierra Leone, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Sierra Leone, with support from the United States Agency fo...

01 December 2021

Living positively with HIV – thanks to steady flow of ARVs

Freetown - In 2008, *Edith’s life took a dramatic turn when she lost her husband and father to her two children.  Apart from living with the pain of losing a loved one, Edith also found out she was HIV positive. “When I was diagnosed as HIV positive, I was sad, angry, confused and unsure about what to do...

22 October 2021

Special Care Baby Units save the lives of premature and sick newborns in Sierra Leone

Musu Silverlee, a young lactating mother from Borborgahun village in Kailahun District, eastern Sierra Leone, caressed her one-week-old baby, Ansumana, as she breastfed it inside the Special Care Baby Unit at the Kailahun Government Hospital. Musu, who was still pregnant a week ago, developed complications due to ...

28 September 2021

The IsDB and UNICEF handover supplies and equipment to strengthen COVID-19 response in Sierra Leone

Freetown, Sierra Leone, 28 September 2021 - The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) today handed over medical supplies and equipment procured with Islamic Development Bank IsDB) funds on behalf of the Government of Sierra Leone to contribute in strengthening Sierra Leone’s health delivery system during th...

09 September 2021

Sierra Leone receives face masks from the Government of Korea to fight COVID-19

Freetown, 9 September 2021 – The Government of Korea, through UNICEF, has donated 200,000 pieces of high-quality KF94 face masks to the Ministry of Health and Sanitation to help protect frontline health workers against COVID-19 infection while they undertake their duties, and thereby sustaining the delivery of ess...