Sierra Leone

In Numbers

141.59 mt of food assistance distributed
US$ 31,500 cash-based transfers made
US$ 7,914,883 six months (April-Sept 2018) net funding requirements, representing 64% of total

4,907 people assisted in March 2018

Operational Updates

Household items distribution:

In February, PWJ and our local partner CEDA distributed household goods to those families heavily affected by the flood/landslide that occurred in August 2018.

Summary of major revisions made to emergency plan of action:

(MissionNewswire) Salesian missionaries with Don Bosco Fambul, one of Sierra Leone’s leading child-welfare organizations in Freetown, immediately responded with relief efforts for those affected by flooding and mudslides that occurred on Aug. 14, 2017. Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, lies between the mountains and the sea. The intense rain caused a mudslide on Mount Sugar Loaf in the Regent District on the outskirts of Freetown. The mudslide occurred at 6 a.m. when most of the community residents were still sleeping—leaving them more vulnerable to the rising waters.

In Numbers

12.054 mt of food assistance distributed

USD 174,071 cash based transfers made

USD 7,914,883 six months (March-Aug 2018) net funding requirements, representing 64% of total

8,580 people assisted in FEBRUARY 2018

Operational Updates

SG/SM/18974
5 APRIL 2018

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary‑General António Guterres:

PRELIMINARY STATEMENT

Freetown, 2 April 2018

I. INTRODUCTION

1. The African Union deployed 30 observers, including eight (8) long-term observers (LTOs) to the 2018 run-off presidential election in Sierra Leone. While the short-term observers (STOs) will depart by 3 April 2018, the LTOs will remain on the ground until 7 April 2018 to follow up on the post-election phase.

WHO Sierra Leone’s ‘Annual Report: A Year in Review’ documents major milestones, lessons and challenges from our work in the health sector in 2017, achieved following two years of intensive post-Ebola support to the Ministry of Health and Sanitation. Together with our government counterparts, colleagues and our valued partners, we have aimed to help restore and strengthen essential health services, rebuild people’s trust and confidence in the public health system, and better protect the population against health emergencies – be this Ebola, or any other critical health threat.

The 2014-2015 Ebola outbreak in West Africa disrupted the region's health systems, job markets, and food supplies. Congress appropriated funds to USAID and State for Ebola response and preparedness. USAID and, to a lesser extent, State used some funds for Ebola recovery projects.

We reported on the status of USAID's recovery projects. USAID had completed 62 of its 131 projects, as of September 2017.

Just over a year ago when Sadia Kamara, 39, was posted as a maternal child health aide in Rosenor Village, she was very pleased to have her first experience outside Freetown.
However, her happiness was short lived when she realized that her new duty station was not as she expected.

The roof of the health post leaked when it rained. “Had you come here in the rainy season, there would be no place to sit.”

This almost made her gave up the profession she had loved since she was a little girl growing up in Freetown, Sierra Leone’s capital city.

Carter Center Issues Expert Mission Report on Sierra Leone’s March 7 Elections

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: In Atlanta, Deanna.Congileo@cartercenter.org

Read the full report »

Catherine Ginty

The Ebola virus outbreak claimed 11,000 lives across West Africa in 2014-2016. In Sierra Leone alone, 3,956 people died and it is estimated that 12,000 children lost parents.

Rugiatu is nine and wants to be a teacher when she grows up. But her life has not been easy so-far. Rugiatu’s mother died during the Ebola crisis, which struck Sierra Leone 2014-2016.

29-year old Alpha* is one of the first patients treated for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) in Sierra Leone. According to him, the journey to treatment at the Lakka Government Hospital was “long and rigorous,” but one that would restore his life and dignity.

Addis Ababa, 20 March 2018: The Head of the African Union Election Observation Mission to Sierra Leone, H.E. Kgalema Motlanthe recalls the interim statement that AUEOM issued immediately after the General Election of 7 March 2018. In that statement the AUEOM congratulated all political stakeholders and the people of Sierra Leone for the peaceful, transparent and credible manner in which the elections were held. In the same statement, AUEOM implored Sierra Leone stakeholders to uphold peace and avoid violence as the country gears itself up for the run-off presidential election.

Addis Ababa, 15 March 2018: The Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, wishes to congratulate the people of Sierra Leone for peaceful, transparent and credible General Elections. The Chairperson has taken note of the peaceful atmosphere within which the 7 March 2018 General Elections took place and wishes to seize the opportunity to applaud the efforts of all electoral stakeholders including political parties and the National Electoral Commission.

On 7 March 2018, Sierra Leone went to the polls to vote in Presidential, Parliamentary and Local Council Elections Receiving reports of incidents around the country – from monitors, but also the general public – the Women’s Situation Room operated 24/7, with youth trained to take calls and log information for intervention.

By Harriet Mason, Communications Officer with UNICEF Sierra Leone

KORTUHUN, Sierra Leone – Zainab Conteh and her team are on a mission to improve the quality of data received from health facilities in Bombali district, northern Sierra Leone.

Jason Patinkin

FREETOWN — Partial results released Saturday in the race for Sierra Leone's new president show no one has a strong enough majority so far to win Wednesday's polls as election observers criticized the country's police for intimidating opposition members before and after the vote.

A dozen young males and females are drenched in the scorching sun in a remote community in Samu Chiefdom, Kambia District, Northern Sierra Leone, as they dug out brown mud from a hole almost three meters deep. “Our goal is to dig our first ever protected handpump,” says Mohamed Kamara, the team leader and handpump technician. “We suspect we will need to go 14 meters deep before we reach water,” he observed.

To ensure community ownership, Mohamed teamed up with other youth in Rosinor village so that the work is done in accordance with the expectation of the residents.

FREETOWN, SIERRA LEONE — Sierra Leone's main opposition leader called for calm Wednesday night after his supporters engaged in running street battles with police, resulting in at least one injury at the end of an otherwise peaceful day of polling in the West African nation.