The healthcare status in Sierra Leone is very poor. The country has one of the highest infant and maternal mortality rates in the world, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). A 2016 report by the WHO estimated the life expectancy in Sierra Leone to be at 53 years. And the infant mortality ratio is 89 per 1,000 live births.* Under-five mortality ratio was said to be 140 per 1,000 live births, and they put the maternal mortality ratio at 857 per 100,000 live births. In 2017, the WHO recorded a drop in the under-five mortality rate at an estimated 110 per 1,000 live births.

 

The major causes of illness and death, especially of children in Sierra Leone, are preventable with most deaths being attributable to nutritional deficiencies, pneumonia, diarrheal diseases, anemia, malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS. Malaria remains the most common cause of illness and death in the country, accounting for about 50% of outpatient visits and 38% of hospital admissions.** The same study indicated that malaria accounts for about 41% of all hospital deaths among children aged under 5 years.

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Inadequate healthcare access and the exorbitant cost of health services, including people’s inability to afford it, has contributed negatively to the fact that in a country of about seven million people, there are very few doctors, less than 200. The cost of going to the hospital and physician consultation fees are far-fetched for many, so most people don’t even bother going to hospitals anymore, let alone get a check-up.

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That is why we at Sinava, partner with local clinics and hospitals in the communities that we work in, to provide easy health access to our students free of charge. We provide our students with mosquito bed nets, while our partner hospital, Mount Hope, offers them free annual medical check-ups, free sexually transmitted infections (STI) and HIV/AIDS screenings, and much more.

 

We are currently locked in agreement with Mount Hope Hospital and, with the donations we receive, we hope that we can expand our partnerships to all the hospitals in Kenema and to students all across the region.