You are here

15/08/2019

Sierra Leone has one of the highest maternal mortality ratios in the world, estimated at 1,165 deaths per 100,000 live births. One in 17 women bear a lifetime risk of dying during pregnancy and childbirth. Sierra Leone has very high child, infant, and neonatal mortality rates: 156, 92, and 39 per 1,000 live births, respectively.  

With generous funding from UK aid, UNFPA constructed and refurbished six community health centres and two hospitals: King Harman Road Hospital and Rokupa Hospital. In addition, UNFPA also equipped  all of the facilities to ensure that they are able to provide quality maternal newborn and child health services.

Rokupa Hospital

The Rokupa hospital is being established as a maternal newborn and child health centre of excellence. Located in the Western Urban District of Freetown, the Rokupa hospital serves a projected catchment population of 27,460, and an expected 6,315 women of reproductive age. The facility will provide a full range of reproductive maternal and newborn health care, comprehensive emergency obstetric and newborn care as well as in-patient and out-patient services. It has an operating theatre to support surgical interventions including caesarian sections, and is expected to contribute to improved health outcomes for pregnant women in the catchment area and beyond.

King Harman Road Hospital

Located in the Western Urban District of Freetown, the King Harman Road hospital serves a catchment population of 19,386, and an expected 4, 458 women of reproductive age. The old infrastructure was deemed not fit for purpose; hence, it was demolished and replaced with a new construction. The King Harman Road Hospital will provide a full range of maternal, newborn and child health services, including quality comprehensive emergency maternal obstetric and newborn care (EmONC) services. 

 

For more information, please contact:

Ms Angelique Reid, Communication Specialist

UNFPA Sierra Leone

M: +232 78 340044

E: areid@unfpa.org

 

07/05/2019

Safiatu Foday, Programme Analyst at UNFPA Sierra Leone and President of the Sierra Leone Midwives Association was on African Youth Voices television discussing International Day of the Midwife commemorated on 5 May. This year's theme: “Midwives: Defenders of Women's Rights”. UNFPA supports midwifery in the key areas of education, regulation, association and service delivery. As UNFPA Sierra Leone, since 2010 we have supported all midwifery institutions in the country (Freetown, Makeni and more recently Bo) in the areas of students’ scholarships, faculty development and clinical environment improvements. It is significant that so far that through UNFPA support, and with funds from UK aid we have collectively over 700 midwives to graduate and strengthen reproductive health services in Sierra Leone.

UNFPA has also supported the development of the first ever Strategic Plan for Midwifery and Nursing which was launched last March by His Excellency the President of the Republic of Sierra Leone during the conference of the West African College of Nursing. We are happy for the collaboration with the Offices of the Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer, Registrar of the Nurses and Midwives Board and the Sierra Leone Midwives Association in activities such as preceptorship policy development, regulatory bill finalisation, skills development in basic emergency and newborn care to mention a few.

22/02/2019

UNFPA REGIONAL DIRECTOR FOR WEST AND CENTRAL AFRICA VISITS SIERRA LEONE

Tuesday, 12 February – Friday, 15 February 2019

15/07/2018

UNFPA Sierra Leone's Patrica Bah is joined with Marie Stopes country representative, Ufouma Omo Obi, and Dr. Sartie Kenneh from Ministry of Health and Sanitation to discuss family planning and adolescent health on African Youth Voices television to mark World Population Day.

13/07/2018

Are you wondering what more UNFPA in Sierra Leone has planned to mark World Population Day?

Watch this space!!! 

16/06/2018

Ellen Donnelly who is a United Nations Volunteer funded by Irish Aid, is serving at UNFPA in Sierra Leone. In this video she describes her assignment and how her work is contributing to the empowerment of marginalised and vulnerable young people in the country.

29/05/2018

In case you missed it: Watch the AYV TV media coverage on how UNFPA and Aberdeen Women's Centre marked International Day to End Obstetric Fistula on 23 May 2018

11/07/2017

Family planning allows people to attain their desired number of children and determine the spacing of pregnancies. It is achieved using contraceptive methods and the treatment of infertility.

UNFPA Sierra Leone works to increase national capacity to strengthen enabling environments, increase demand for, and supply of, modern contraceptives and improve the delivery of high-quality family planning services that are free of coercion, discrimination and violence.  We focus on reaching the most vulnerable and delivering contraceptives to the last mile.

31/01/2018

Sierra Leone has one of the highest maternal mortality ratio in the world with 1,360 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births. One of the main cause of maternal deaths is postpartum hemorrhage (bleeding after delivery) which accounted for 33 per cent of all deaths.

Meet Desmond Ayodele Lewis, Sierra Leone’s highest blood donor, who is helping to save the lives of women and children. So far, he has donated 102 units of blood.

Desmond, a member of the Voluntary Blood Donor Association, speaks on the significance of donating blood. 

This interview is a follow-up to a week-long campaign in mid-November 2017, in four regions of Sierra Leone, organized by the  Ministry of Health and Sanitation’s – Blood Service Progamme, with support from UNFPA and funded by UK aid (DfID Saving Lives Programme). 

18/12/2017

In August, UNFPA supported the 2017 National Girls Camp which was organized by the Office of the First Lady. The camp targets girls aged 10 – 19, providing them with information on their rights and responsibilities, and equipping them with the knowledge and tools to fulfill their potential.

Recently we caught up with one of the participants, 20-year-old Eunice Mustapha, to find out her thoughts on the camp and how it has had an impact on her life.

 

Pages