STEP UP! for Survival

Taken from MamaYe Sierra Leone 

Time to Step Up for Health in Sierra Leone

This is what we know, we lose 1 Sierra Leonean baby every 47 minutesand 5 women everyday in our country do not survive during child birth. The irony is this, giving life literally becomes a coin toss and yet the solutions to reducing the probability of death can be prevented if we had safe clinics that our women could deliver in. As a deeply religious society, many women who lose their babies often relegate it to “God’s will” and babies who lose their mothers have to often fight for survival as family members step in as care takers. I believe with every fiber of my being that it does not have to be this way. We also know this, our government cares about maternal and newborn health. This is evident in the Agenda for prosperity, the existence of the Free Health Care Initiative (FHCI) and with the proactive presence of our ministers in health and finance who continually and consistently make international headlines for initiatives that prioritize mama en pikin wellbodi.  I say however, that we must STEP UP our care and ACT where it really matters.

It is an interesting time for Sierra Leone as we continue to gain international recognition as not only an emerging economy according to World’s Bank Doing Business Report, but through the awarding of H.E Ernest Bai Koroma with the ‘Icon of Democracy’, also a pioneering African country for good governance. Multinational agencies like the World Bank and the Multi-donor trust show confidence in Sierra Leone by providing18 million dollars to strengthen our Free Health Care Initiative (FHCI). In addition, in 2012 Sierra Leone qualified for consideration by theMillennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) who offer countries 300 million to 700 million dollars worth of grant money as an innovative response to poverty reduction. It is evident that global leaders believe in the potential of Sierra Leone and its tenacity to STEP up for sustainable growth. This also means beyond infrastructural development like roads and electricity, the government must invest in the growth of its people. Yes.  You and I matter too. This means that we should have access to basics like primary education, every Sierra Leonean child should be immunized, child health should be taken seriously and importantly, more must be spent on health. On the contrary, we failed in the categories described above when MCC released their latest score cards.

This brings me back to STEPPING UP and ACTING where it matters especially when it comes to health. I do not take the old adage lightly, health is wealth and as a Sierra Leonean woman myself, I want to know that I can give birth in any clinic, regardless of my economic or social status, in Sierra Leone that is safe – meaning drugs and medication are available, health staff are well trained and amenities like clean water and electricity are consistently available. This can be a reality when our government STEP’S UP its care for mothers and babies. This can be done by allocating more funds for health and by consistent and timely disbursement of funds to ensure an effective and efficient health care system.

It is not too late, we can still allocate more to health spending ahead of the National Budget reading on Nov. 29^th, we can still meet our 15% Abuja international commitment to health spending, we can still STEP up and invest in the wellbeing of every Sierra Leonean so that giving birth does not have to be a coin toss. This is what we should all know – that it is POSSIBLE.