Officials from the Ministry of Health and Sanitation have announced plans to host the First Ever National Health Summit in Sierra Leone. This disclosure was made on Thursday, March 17, 2022 during the weekly government press briefing in Freetown.
Welcoming attendees, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications, who also doubles as the Spokesperson for the National COVID-19 Response Centre, Hon. Solomon Jamiru Esq, said that the national health summit will aid in changing the health trajectory of Sierra Leone, adding that the Government of Sierra Leone is committed to improving all sectors in the country.
“As a government, we are not only committed to changing the standards for the better but have followed it up by improving conditions and facilities over the years and we will continue to do so,” he emphasised.
In his Keynote address before officially launching the National Health Summit 2022, Minister of Health and Sanitation, Dr. Austin Demby, said that the Health Summit will be patient centred and expected to be participatory and engaging.
Dr. Demby praised President Dr. Julius Maada Bio for prioritizing good health care delivery, saying that providing health facilities is a good spirit that could transform health care delivery across the country. He went on to thank all Health Professionals that have been working diligently to improve the health standards in the country.
The Minister revealed that the Summit, the first of its kind ever in Sierra Leone, will be held on the 7th, 8th and & 9th April, 2022 at the Bintumani Conference Centre at Aberdeen in Freetown and will attract Three Hundred (300) delegates from across the country, and abroad. He said that the vision of the summit and by extension government is to have a sustainable health sector by 2030.
“All sectors should embrace the summit to ensure that set objectives are met and actioned. Sierra Leone has had to battle with health challenges for too long, and adopting an approach that would lead to a paradigm shift is of great importance in times like these,” he said.
A representative from Africell Sierra Leone, who have already partnered with the Ministry of Health for the Summit, said that as partners of government, they’d continue to work assiduously to ensure that health outcomes were realized, adding that the summit will aid in improving matters and enhance universal health coverage. The event was also witnessed by other representatives from the World Health Organization, United Nations and Civil Society Organizations.
By: Mohamed Sannoh – Strategic Communications Unit MIC