MOHS Unveils Sierra Leone Every Newborn Action Plan
Reducing infant mortality is an unfinished agenda of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Sierra Leone. This proposition is backed by Statistic Sierra Leone’s 2013 Demographic Health Survey which shows that infant mortality is responsible for more than 30 percent of the country’s total death toll.
In an effort to change this narrative, the Directorate of Reproductive and Child Health in the Ministry of Health and Sanitation have unveiled the Sierra Leone Every Newborn Action Plan. An action plan that is geared towards reducing this phenomenon to the global neonatal mortality rate of 12 deaths per 1000 live births by 2030.
It is obvious that the country’s challenging health system could hardly meet this global target if a feasible action plan like this is not developed, implemented and monitored in order to protect the next generation from preventable death.
Tracing the background of the plan, Dr. Sairt Kanneh, Director of Reproductive and Child Health said the action plan was born out of a commitment made by the Government of Sierra Leone in 2012 at the UN General Assembly to protect every newborn adding that this commitment was last year translated into an action plan by his directorate in order to reduce infant mortality rate in the country. With the plan, he noted that his department is to some large extent positioned now to ensure that every newborn survive and strive.
The Sierra Leone Every Newborn Action Plan being a document on its own, it is the hope of every Sierra Leonean that government and its partners will make reasonable effort to action this plan in order to change the narratives that have been surrounding infant mortality in Sierra Leone over the years under the watchful eyes of authorities responsible.
By: Lebah Samorie Gibateh
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