By Ibrahim S. Bangura
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on Tuesday, April 18, 2023 at Youyi Building in Freetown, officially handed over two brand new vehicles, 230 solar fridges and cold chain spare parts to the Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MoHS) as support towards the fight against coronavirus in Sierra Leone.
According to Dr. Suleiman Braimo, UNICEF representative, the consignment of the vehicles and solar fridges has been procured to support the Ministry’s work to reach more people with routine and COVID-19 Vaccines, to improve immunization services and to ensure that vaccines are delivered closer to where people live.
He said, “I am honoured to officially hand over two vehicles, 230 solar fridges and cold chain spare parts which the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has procured on behalf of the Government of Sierra Leone with financial support from the COVID-19 Vaccine Delivery Partnership (CoVDP), which came through a proposal developed jointly by the Ministry of Health and Sanitation and UNICEF.”
Dr. Braimo said that UNICEF has continued to support MoHS to ensure that even at the peak of COVID-19, children continued to have access to routine vaccines, and protect them against childhood illnesses such as Polio, Measles, and Diphtheria in order to prevent outbreaks of vaccines preventable diseases alongside the COVID-19 pandemic. “With these vehicles and solar fridges officially handed over to MoHS, we look forward to seeing them being used for the intended purpose – which is to support effective programme implementation and monitoring of the programme by the Directorate of Reproductive Health and national EPI office. UNICEF is on standby to support the Ministry with the registration and licensing of the vehicles, and transportation of the solar fridges to the various health facilities,” he said.
Dr. Braimo congratulated the Minister of Health for their leadership in the COVID-19 response and recognized the tremendous support that had come through partners including GAVI, WHO, etc.
According to him, to date more than 8,788,410 doses of life-saving vaccines have been received and by February 2023, the country managed to achieve the COVID-19 vaccination target of 77 percent. He said, “As we remain aware that Covid-19 is still among us, it is our hope that this support will continue to helping us find a way out of this pandemic.”
Dr. Braimo said UNICEF would remain committed and available to support the Ministry’s ongoing effort to mobilise funding, further strengthen the country’s national immunization programme and continue to urge all caregivers and partners to take full advantage of this opportunity and ensure that all eligible children are vaccinated on time.
Austin Demby, Minister of Health and Sanitation, thanked UNICEF for supporting them to fight against COVID-19 in Sierra Leone. He said that UNICEF has been a good partner who has been working with them in some many ways for a long time now. “UNICEF has been a very good friend to MoHS. We believe that together with them, we can reach our desired solutions. And with these items given us, we are given the ability to take the vaccines as far as we can reach. So, on behalf of the people of Sierra Leone and our ministry, I say a warm thank you to UNICEF for your leadership and commitments to Sierra Leone. You have been caring for Sierra Leone. We are very grateful for all of your interventions,” Minister concluded.