One Year Anniversary of Sierra Leone’s Free Health Care Initiative

On April 27, 2010, Sierra Leone launched a free health care initiative for pregnant women, new mothers, and young children under the age of five. How did a country with a barely functioning health system following more than a decade of brutal civil war manage this and what have the results been? In two new articles, John Donnelly, Senior Consultant for MLI, investigates these questions.

In "How did Sierra Leone provide free health care?" Donnelly chronicles the Ministry of Health's free care initiative. He narrates the creation and roll out of the policy as well as its progress upon reaching its one year anniversary. The article states that the reason the country’s initiative was a success is that it was better organized and had a higher degree of cooperation among the government, donors, and development partners than virtually any other. Sierra Leone's free health-care plan has substantially increased services for mothers, and particularly for children. The number of children treated for malaria, for instance, has roughly tripled from the previous year, a striking example of how the lack of money proved to be a barrier to care. Still uncertain is whether the program has been able to reduce the rate of women dying during childbirth, a key motivation for the initiative.

Donnelly profiles Sierra Leone's new Minister of Health in "Haja Zainab Bangura: Sierra Leone's tireless Minister of Health." Honorable Bangura took office in December and has been on a fast paced tour surveying the country's health systems and services. In the article, Hon. Bangura brings to light many observations on how to continue the free care initiative's progress and the challenges facing the ministry.