World Health Organization Sierra Leone

09/09/2025

The World Health Organization (WHO) has newly donated infection prevention and Control materials for the Mpox response to Sierra Leone's national health authorities. The supplies aim to enhance the government's response efforts to Mpox in schools. With this donation, the WHO has now delivered financial and technical support worth USD one million since the Government of Sierra Leone declared Mpox a Public Health Emergency in January 2025.

The donation, mobilized through the WHO African Regional Office, includes hand-wash sets, basic IPC commodities, 30-liter Buckets with covers, receiving buckets, stand stools, waste bins, and hand-wash detergents. These supplies will be dispatched to health facilities and schools in hotspot districts, based on ongoing needs and reports of new cases. The supplies will help prevent the spread of Mpox among students, teachers, and health workers

With the support of WHO and other partners, the number of Mpox cases reported has decreased from an average of 17 new cases per day to seven, representing a 58% reduction. This significant reduction is a testament to the effectiveness of the measures being implemented. Since January 2025, more than 6,800 suspected cases of Mpox have been recorded country-wide; of these, more than 5,200 cases were confirmed, 56 deaths recovered, and over 5,100 recoveries.

WHO's response to Mpox has been made possible through the generous support of donors, including FCDO, GAVI, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany, who ensured that our teams had funds to reach the communities in the most remote places in Sierra Leone.

29/08/2025

A WHO-supported house-to-house Mpox nationwide campaign in Sierra Leone, valued at a cost of USD 300,000, has significantly reduced the number of Mpox cases countrywide by 50% in a month. This successful campaign, named “Enhanced Integrated Mpox Response (EIMR),” conducted over four weeks from July 9 to August 3, 2025, was led by the Ministry of Health, the National Public Health Agency, and District Health Management Teams. WHO provided direct financial and technical assistance, including the deployment of nine technical officers and 35 national African Volunteers Health Corps - Strengthening and Utilizing Response Group for Emergencies (AVoHC-SURGE) responders to sixteen districts, marking a turning point in the fight against the outbreak. Thanks to , Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, , , , and

The house-to-house campaign was aimed at strengthening district-level response systems by equipping Incident Management Teams with a multidisciplinary capacity to proactively detect cases, isolate them rapidly, and interrupt community transmission. The WHO teams collaborated with national and district teams to identify, investigate, and report unrecognized mpox cases; engaged with private and public health practitioners in surveillance and reporting; enhanced community awareness campaigns that promoted prevention and early detection; and identified and safely transferred suspected and confirmed cases to isolation and treatment centers. Other support that the teams provided includes timely sample collection, transportation, and feedback on laboratory results; as well as comprehensive contact tracing, vaccination, and follow-up for twenty-one days.

Before the launch of the campaign, Sierra Leone was reporting an average of seventeen new cases per day. But by the end of the campaign, the figure had dropped to seven, representing a 58% reduction. The WHO teams visited more than 250,000 households, reaching and educating over 600,000 people on mpox prevention and reporting. Seven hundred and four suspected cases were investigated for mpox, of these 395 (56%) tested positive and were transferred to treatment centers to reduce community transmission. More than 6,500 contacts were listed and vaccinated to prevent them from contracting the infection. Additionally, the teams reached more than 12,000 high-risk individuals with targeted education on how to prevent and manage diseases.

To achieve the highest outcomes from this campaign, WHO collaborated with several partners, including World Food Programme, @ Africa CDC, , UNICEF Sierra Leone, GOAL, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and Population Services International. These partners, along with the local communities, contributed resources, expertise, and personnel, demonstrating the power of collaboration in public health emergencies.

26/08/2025

Today, WHO Sierra Leone donated to the Ministry of Health Sierra Leone and the National Public Health Agency Sierra Leone an assortment of essential medical supplies including equipment and consumables for the management of Mpox cases. The medical supplies like PPEs, thermometers, weighing scales, syringes and needles, catheters and infusion sets enough to treat more than 1000 patients for one month will be distributed to five treatment centers of Connaught, 34 Military, Hastings, Makeni Regional, and Bo Regional Hospitals.

The supplies come at a critical time when the treatment centers are grappling with needs to sustain the management of the Mpox cases. These will go a long way in enhancing the capacity at treatment centers to treat and manage cases, thanks to WHO’s generous donors . Over the past several months, WHO and partners have been steadfast in their support of health authorities at all levels in Sierra Leone bringing down the outbreak to single digit per day from over 100 cases per day.

Over the past several months, WHO and partners have been steadfast in their support of health authorities at all levels in Sierra Leone. This support, in the areas of surveillance, case management, risk communication, vaccination and laboratory, has been ongoing and will continue. By providing medical supplies, equipment, and deploying its staff and trained health teams to the frontlines across the country, WHO is committed to curbing the outbreak and achieving further progress.

13/08/2025

WHO Sierra Leone 2nd Quarter Newsletter is here!

This quarter, our efforts focused strongly on the ongoing Mpox outbreak, with WHO providing extensive support across all 16 districts of Sierra Leone.

In this edition, you’ll also find updates on progress in women’s health, immunization, and health system strengthening.

Read more here:

As Sierra Leone continues to report new cases of mpox, the Ministry of Health and partners are strengthening Infection prevention and control (IPC) measures in a bid to protect the country’s health wo

12/08/2025

Happy International Youth Day.

At World Health Organization, we work closely with adolescent and youth-led organisations to promote health education, access and equity, and planetary health.
We ensure young people have a voice in decisions that affect their health and wellbeing, and that they can access comprehensive Sexual and Reproductive Health services, including HPV vaccination, cervical cancer screening, and treatment.

Join the conversation!

08/08/2025

Sierra Leone began a two-week WHO-supported workshop on 4 August 2025, focused on DNA sequencing and bioinformatics. The training, running through 15 August, aims to build sustainable national capacity in genomic surveillance, with a strong focus on mentorship and leadership. It targets preparedness for multi-pathogen threats beyond Mpox, and is delivered in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, National Public Health Agency, and CPHRL.

31/07/2025

Strengthening AMR Surveillance in Sierra Leone

A four-day training workshop held in Bo district has equipped laboratory scientists, surveillance officers, data managers, and members of the National Coordinating Centre (NCC) from both the human and animal health sectors with the skills to use WHONET and GLASS tools for enhanced antimicrobial resistance (AMR) data management.

Supported by WHO and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), with funding from Fleming Fund, this training strengthens the One Health approach and boosts Sierra Leone’s capacity for accurate and timely national and global AMR reporting.

Statements from WHO, FAO, and MoH reflected the powerful impact of building national capacity to produce reliable, actionable AMR data that informs policy and saves lives.

31/07/2025

Freetown: 30 - 31 July 2025
Sierra Leone has concluded a 2-day consultative meeting on strengthening integrated child health services through a Primary Health Care approach!
Held in Freetown with support from WHO, the meeting brought together 55 stakeholders from government, UN agencies, NGOs, and CSOs. The workshop introduced the WHO Regional Framework, reviewed the national child health work plan, and discussed scaling up key initiatives like dIMNCI, nutrition, and early childhood development.
Major highlight: Introduction of the WHO framework for strengthening integrated child health services in the African region
Dr. Linda Farma emphasized, “Integration is the way forward; let’s work together to ensure every child not only survives but thrives.”

Ministry of Health National Public Health Agency World Health Organization African Region

30/07/2025

Let's break it down.

More than a million people die every year from hepatitis related illness. Hepatitis treatment could save your life.

Get the facts. Protect your family.



Ministry of Health National Public Health Agency

29/07/2025

Let's break it down!

Getting vaccinated for hepatitis B also protects against liver cancer.

Get the facts. Get vaccinated.



Ministry of Health National Public Health Agency

28/07/2025

It is World Hepatitis Day #2025

"The theme ‘Let’s Break It Down’ challenges us to dismantle the barriers of stigma, limited access, and delayed diagnosis."



Ministry of Health National Public Health Agency

24/07/2025

Sierra Leone has just concluded a two-day WHO-led virtual training to strengthen the capacity of national polio committees and secretariats. The training focused on new certification requirements, the updated GPEI strategy, and digital reporting tools such as elextronic Annual Update Report (e-AUR).

WHO Representative Dr. George Ameh commended the committees for their longstanding commitment and urged continued vigilance as Sierra Leone remains at risk of polio variant outbreaks.

Dr. Muctarr Jalloh, Chair of the National Polio Committee, thanked WHO for its continued support and reaffirmed the committee’s dedication to improving documentation and sustaining high certification standards.

World Health Organization African Region Ministry of Health National Public Health Agency