June 21, 2021
In accordance with the pledge made by Sierra Leone to allocate 15% of its National budget to the health sector during the Abuja Declaration of Human Rights Convention on April, 2001 which was set to strengthen Africa’s health systems and ensure its preparedness for disease outbreaks, the Plan Parenthood Association Sierra Leone (PPASL) in collaboration with People’s Alliance for Reproductive Health Advocacy (PARHA) has organized a dialogue session with the Ministry of Finance to discuss: the 2% budget allocation on sexual reproductive health and family planning, the domestication of the Mabotu plan of action, and the 15% allocation to the health sector. This engagement was held on Thursday 17th June, 2021 at the Ministry’s Conference hall, George Street, Freetown.
The Assistant Director of Budget at the Ministry of Finance (Dausy Wurie), in an analytic presentation, disclosed that the Covid 19 pandemic has warranted the Ministry to surpass its budget allocation to the Ministry of Health (MoH) which was in 7% in 2019FY to 12 % in 2020FY and 12% in 2021FY respectively. He continued that, based on the original budget for 2021FY, there was no increment in terms of percentages but on nominal terms – from 629 billion to 829 billion. He explained that MoH has over 60 programmes which always brought difficulty to engage all of its partners to sign the PET forms. This, he advised that they should avoid coming up with extra budgeting during implementation because the Ministry is guided by PFM laws. He added that, in allocating budget to the health sector, three key elements needed to be considered: salaries, domestic development expenditure, and goods and services. He noted that the overall budgetary allocation to the health sector does not include the 34 Military Hospitals, Police Hospitals, and the Correctional Service Center Hospitals.
The Executive Director, PPASL (David Williams), in his opening statement, said the engagement is done under the umbrella of PARHA. He emphasized the looming rates of the health indicators in the country noting that Sierra Leone has one of the highest maternal mortality rates across the Globe of which 717 pregnant women die out of every 1,000 life birth. He said, in 2015, only 7 African states were able to reach the 15% allocation target which was set by the Abuja Declaration; but since late 2015, significant progress had been made in various African states including Sierra Leone though the report highlighted low data record.
He expressed the crucial importance of allocating budget to the health sector, sighting the devastating effect of Covid-19 to not only developing countries but also developed countries. He added that the outbreak of the Coronavirus revealed that a total of 2,000 ventilators were available in 41 countries in Africa which indicate that the continent have to improve on its health system. He said that they hope to further engage the Ministry on similar discussions as they employ their role as civil society group to remind and engage them on their obligations.
The chairman and co-founder PARHA (Fodie P.O Kamara), in his presentation emphasized the importance of the 2% allocation to sexual reproductive health explaining the high rate of teenage pregnancy at 28% complications during pregnancy, unsafe abortions, and increased incidences of SGBV etc. He furthered that government commitment to the Declaration is key, spotting the COVID19 pandemic significance of investment in a long term preparedness and commitment to policies and declarations designed towards the Health Care System. He concluded by urging government to invest in the health sector in a bid to address the poor health system especially maternal mortality rate in the country as in the Declaration demands.