By: Fatmata Grace Okekearu, Bo City
A three-day mpox training workshop has concluded successfully at Gbonda Hall on Dambala Road in Bo District, bringing together district health officials from Kono, Port Loko, Kenema, and Bo districts identified as high-burden areas with confirmed cases of the disease.
The training forms part of a nationwide initiative to strengthen the capacity of district health systems to respond effectively to the ongoing mpox threat, with a particular emphasis on community engagement and early intervention.
Participants were drawn from District Health Management Teams (DHMTs) and other frontline agencies. The objective was to equip district health leads with the knowledge and tools needed to train Community-Led Action (CLA) teams and Community Health Workers (CHWs) in their respective localities.
Facilitators focused on key response components including early detection, timely case reporting, contact tracing, and risk communication. Training modules also addressed case management, infection prevention, and compliance with national and international public health protocols.
“This initiative is a major step forward in our fight against mpox,” said a participant from Kenema. “It has given us the skills we need to educate our communities and respond quickly to potential outbreaks.”
The workshop featured practical sessions on community mobilization and health education strategies, tailored to the unique realities of the target districts. By building capacity at the grassroots level, the initiative aims to increase public awareness, reduce disease transmission, and strengthen local disease surveillance systems.
Health experts have praised the training as a timely and strategic intervention to decentralize the national response to mpox. As trained district officials begin rolling out the training to community health workers, local health systems are expected to become better equipped to detect and contain cases early.
The initiative reflects the government’s ongoing commitment to enhancing Sierra Leone’s public health infrastructure and safeguarding communities against current and future disease outbreaks. With improved knowledge and skills now in the hands of district-level leaders, the country takes another important step toward ensuring resilient and responsive healthcare delivery.