Sierra Leone | MSF Medical Humanitarian Aid

In Sierra Leone, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) focuses on maternal and paediatric care, with the aim of reducing the high rates of sickness and death among mothers and children under five.

There is a critical shortage of medical staff, resulting in a lack of services for the most vulnerable groups. Our teams work to fill some of these gaps, providing healthcare for children under the age of five, pregnant women, and lactating mothers. We have staff in 13 peripheral health units in three chiefdoms (Gorama Mende, Wandor and Nongowa), and a hospital in Hangha, Kenema district, supporting intensive therapeutic feeding centres, general paediatric care, and malaria treatment.

140,100

140,1

outpatient consultations

53,100

53,1

malaria cases treated

11,400

11,4

patients admitted

5,850

5,85

births assisted

In Tonkolili district, we support Magburaka district hospital and nine peripheral health units, with improvements to infection prevention and control measures and water and sanitation systems. We also support the supply of essential medication and staff training. Our services include family planning, prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, psychosocial support, and medical treatment for survivors of sexual and gender-based violence.

In Makeni town, Bombali district, we are working with the national TB programme to implement an ambulatory model of care in the community for drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) diagnosis and treatment. We also continue to support the country’s main TB facility in Lakka hospital, in the capital, Freetown.

MSF assisted the national response to COVID-19 by transforming a government facility in Freetown into a 120-bed treatment centre, and trained staff. The Lassa fever isolation unit in Kenema public hospital was renovated and used as a COVID-19 treatment centre with an initial capacity of 25 beds. A group of nurses and midwives, who went to study in Ghana for two years under an MSF Academy for Healthcare sponsorship, returned to work in Sierra Leone. MSF’s investment in human resources for healthcare is a commitment to improving the quality of care for patients.

No. staff in 2020: 1,232 (FTE) » Expenditure in 2020: €16.5 million MSF first worked in the country: 1986

Activities Around the World

Maternal Health

Empowering nurses to manage the new Kenema paediatric hospital in Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone: Living through epidemics and expanding in challenging times

Patient and Staff Stories 15 Jul 2021

Child Health

“We are here to do good” – Understanding medical ethics

Patient and Staff Stories 25 May 2021

Malnutrition

Tackling severe malnutrition in infants

Patient and Staff Stories 5 Mar 2021

Maternal Health

Empowering nurses to manage the new Kenema paediatric hospital in Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone: Misinformation posing a threat on child health in times of COVID-19 pandemic

Children may pay the price if only COVID-19 response is over prioritised at the expense of malaria

Patient and Staff Stories 22 Jun 2020