BY: MOHAMED SAHR
mohamedsahrpro@gmail.com
Ministry of Health and West Africa Health Organization in the ECOWAS bloc held a comprehensive workshop on regional financing mechanism for reproductive health commodities and other activities within the Economic Community of West Africa States region on Monday at the Bintumani Complex in Freetown.
Dr. Tom Sesay, Director of Reproductive and Child Health at the Ministry of Health said the workshop served as a maiden gathering of experts from different ECOWAS regions, with focus on addressing critical and technical issues bothering West Africa Health Organization. He mentioned that the meeting would shed light of the relevance of data exchange, capacity building of health workers and the provision of family planning commodities as well as its distributions
Dr. Sesay emphasized that the role of women empowerment across national development remained the top-level discourse during the hours spent. “The meeting is the framework that provides the foundation of the plans put forward by the steering commitment,” Dr. Sesay said.
He added that bringing eleven countries from ECOWAS to Sierra Leone served as a big boost in terms of reproductive healthcare delivery in Sierra Leone.
Dr. Sesay expressed that a number of issues were laid bare in the discussion such as data management, financial inclusion, sexual reproductive system and gender empowerment in to ensure the needed services would be provided to Sierra Leoneans in particular. He furthered that there were multi-sectoral approach portrayed, that helped the contribution of all sectors involved.
Ali Sani, Director, Planning and Health Information at West Africa Health Organization said the program would benefit both Sierra Leone and other ECOWAS countries. He stressed that workshop addressed the gap and research component during the course of procuring the commodities.
He stated that Sierra Leone would continue to largely benefit from the project spanning from the initial period to 2028.
Director Sani expressed optimism of the extension of Sierra Leone’s spot in the subsequent phase of the project.
