The Ebola Outbreak in West Africa wrecked immeasurable havoc but it also created an opportunity for Sierra Leone to restructure and relaunch their national community health worker (CHW) program after years of segmented community-based programs. In recognition of the role community health workers played responding to the Ebola outbreak, the Ministry of Health and Sanitation embarked on a redesign and revitalization of the country’s CHW in 2016.
To help the government realize the ambition of building an at-scale and resilient community health system, the Financing Alliance for Health:
- Supported community-health strategy co-development and costing
- Supported resource mobilization through Global Fund and Global Financing Facility application
- In collaboration with partners, supported strengthening stakeholder engagement within the Ministry of Health (MoH) and built the capacity of government officials on public financial management (PFM)
In addition, we are providing technical assistance to the Sierra Leone Ministry of Health in the areas of Primary Health Care programming and innovative financing to advance Sexual, Reproductive, Maternal, Neonatal, Child, and Adolescent Health (SRMNCAH) towards achieving Universal Health Coverage. We have embedded team members within the Directorate of Planning, Policy, and Information at the Ministry of Health. Our team is offering technical support to operationalize and sustainably finance family planning and safe abortion services, integrating these into primary and community health systems to improve maternal and neonatal health outcomes, thereby moving the country closer to Universal Health Coverage.