President Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma Speech On Health. The biggest health crisis since the founding of our nation is upon us. The Ebola outbreak not only infects our people with the Ebola virus, it also leads to many other illnesses being untested. This why it has been necessary not only to fight Ebola, but also to ensure that we contain the spread of other diseases. As earlier mentioned, last month I created the NERC not only to ensure greater efficiency in our Ebola Response, but also to get the Ministry of Health to focus on non-Ebola diseases and concentrate on the implementation of ongoing interventions in the health sector as stated in the National Health Sector Strategic Plan (2010-2015) and articulated in the Agenda for Prosperity. To actualize this vision, the Ministry has adopted the Primary Health care Approach that focuses on the provision of a Basic Package of Essential Health Services and continues to implement the Free Health Care Initiative. Although interrupted by the epidemic, our actions in the health sector have resulted in the following. The Demographic Health Survey of 2013 shows that substantial gains were made in the implementation of the Free Health Care Initiative. We recorded improvements in the reproductive health of women. Nine in ten pregnant women received antenatal care (ANC) from a skilled provider and ANC coverage was high in all districts. Health facility births have almost doubled since 2008 with six in ten births being assisted by a skilled provider. To reduce maternal mortality, we implemented the National Strategy for the Reduction of Teenage Pregnancy. One hundred public and private health facilities were strengthened to provide adolescent and youth-friendly Services; Preparations for the launching of the Sierra Leone Social Health Insurance Scheme (SLeSHIS) in 2015, beginning with a pilot in two districts are at an advanced stage; We completed the rehabilitation of the Makeni School of Health Sciences to address the huge middle level manpower gap Clinical medicine; We are training 30 Medical Doctors as Specialists in sub-region and for the first time, in-country biomedical technician training up to a National Diploma level was completed for twenty (20) technicians; We established the National Pharmaceutical Procurement Unit (NPPU) an autonomous institution that can receive and manage its own funds. The NPPU Board and Board Chairman were appointed and the responsibilities of the Central Medical Stores and UNICEF transferred to NPPU. By Koroma APC
Posted on: Sun, 14 Dec 2014 18:26:57 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015