By Hafsatu Z Bangura
The Ministry of health and Sanitation together with its partners Africell company has in a press briefing updated the fourth estate and members of the public on the National Health Summit and awards with the theme transforming health care delivery towards universal health coverage of which is schedule to take place on the 7th, 8th and 9th April 2022 at the Binmtumani Conference Center in Freetown.
Speaking at the press conference the Minister of Health and Sanitation Dr. Austin Demby said the health Summit is important as his mission together with its partners is to transform the health sector from an under sourced, ill-equipped and inadequate health care delivery system to a system that is affordable and accessible to all, especially the most vulnerable segment of the population.
He continued that the summit is divided into three stages of which the Pre-Summit he said shall be held few days (around 31st March 2022) to discuss presentations, the process and possible issues of contention that can derail the summit if not addressed as this pre-summit is set for the smooth running of the summit and consensus will be reached on issues of contention and how they will be addressed.
The Minister went on that the second stage is the Summit itself of which daily plenary sessions would be held and framing topics from major subject matter and experts and patient population experience are key as at the end of the summit.
He said, the Ministry of Health and Sanitation and health partners are expected to develop and sign an Aide Memoire that summarizes the key findings, recommendations, and steps taken to address the issues agreed upon.
And on the third day he said would be the Ministry of Health Annual Ministerial Award Ceremony of which there are categories of Award for Best District Health Medical Team (DHMT), Best Secondary Hospital, Best Primary Hospital, Best Tertiary Hospital, Best PHC, Best Faith Based/Mission Hospital, Best Media Excellence in promoting health and wellbeing, Best Civil Society in promoting health and well-being, Best Emergency Hospital, and BEST Innovation on waste management.
He further stated that to do this all-stake holders in the socio-economic development space of Sierra Leone and all decision makers in the health sector must urgently and collaboratively develop a workable formula as this would help on improving the service delivery that this would ameliorate the high morbidity and mortality rates, whilst improving accountability and efficiency, increase coverage, and uptake of health services.
The Minister made mention that successive assessments over the years have demonstrated some improvements in Maternal and Child Health outcomes as well as in the life expectancy as over the past 10years the Maternal mortality ratio has reduced from 857 to 717/100 live births and under five mortality rate has similarly reduced from 140 to 122/100 live births while infant mortality rate has reduced from 89 to 75/100 live births as he said there has been good improvements though the number is small if the country were to attain sustainable development goals.
He concluded by saying that expectations from the summit is to clearly understand the framework how as a Ministry and health care system will be working in the direction of accelerating progress towards the SDGs and a better coordination, clarity of priorities, and better understanding of the life stage service deliver model and to motivate health workers and improve performance among health workers.
The Chief Executive Officer of Africell Sierra Leone Mr. Shadi Gerjawi expressed his joy for the mobile company to be a part of this historic event.
As according to him, he is attracted to the theme “transforming health care delivery towards universal health coverage” which in the telecommunications industry such terminologies are common place and as such utilize them when setting yearly target.
He went on that as a company they are driven by the quest to ensure communication is accessible to the most remote communities across the country and as such Africell is a strategic partner providing the requisite tool as Africell supports the health system as a key Cooperate Social responsibility ( CSR) pillar.
He also stated that the company is involved in an extensive coverage expansion drive connecting thousands of communities nationwide and that these communities when connected will be able to seek health related information by calling community health centers.
The chief medical officer said a lot has been done in the health sector even though much work needs to be done as since the term of office of the Minister in office has brought transformation to the Ministry and the health care system to be responsive to the needs of the people through improvement service delivery hence coming together as a ministry, along with partners, civil societies and communities to launch this historic event in shaping and improving the health sector.
The leader for civil society Mr. Mambu also expressed his appreciation towards such important event and noted that health workers who have been effortlessly working as that have not been recognized would now be given the opportunity to appreciate them for their efforts in the health care sector.
He said there are health workers who have sacrificed so much and are still working as volunteers in remote locations across the country.
The Deputy Minister of Information and Communication Mr. Solomon Jamiru Esq was in attendance along with WHO Representative Dr. Steven Shonswe and a host of other health partners were in attendance.
There are criteria for scoring nominees for each award category and a technical panel has been constituted to carry out out assessing the nomination and therein after codes will be sent out for voting to be done respectively.
