President Bio has shared the country’s experience with the pandemics, efforts and healthcare delivery at the High-Level Africa-CDC Forum in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Saturday 18th February 2023.

The President also shared Sierra Leone’s experience with Ebola, successes with Covid-19 and efforts at creating public health agencies and using early warning systems respectively.

The President said:

“The main lesson for us in Sierra Leone is a clear understanding that pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response are everybody’s business. Political leadership, health diplomacy, technical capabilities, active community engagement, flexible funding, and most importantly, speed-of-action, are perhaps the most important success factors for managing an epidemic or pandemic.

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We are establishing an effective and efficient approach to service delivery that involves strengthening Primary Health Care as well as improving clinical services at the secondary and tertiary levels. We are using the Life-Stages approach to quality client/patient-centred care,” he said.

With the Sierra Leone Parliament’s new Public Health Bill ratified in November 2022, the President added that efforts would be complemented by the establishment of a National Public Health Agency at respective locations that will ensure easy access.

“The new Public Health Agency will build and strengthen core competencies in surveillance and epidemiology, data and data analytics, laboratory science, and research to answer local and global questions. We will complement those efforts with simulations and exercises to maintain outbreak response competencies,” he maintained.

The president disclosed that, despite the great progress and development which had been made over the years, the Ebola outbreak of 2014 to 2016 in West Africa was still raw in their psyche as a nation, with over 14,000 infections and nearly 4,000 deaths incurred.

“Those lessons learned were on full display before, and at every stage of our response to COVID-19 in Sierra Leone. Even before the first case was detected in my country, I assembled a Presidential-Taskforce that I chaired. I took full responsibility and accountability for the response. The Taskforce included representation of key line-Ministries of my government and civil society. We also maintained strong links with international development partners and the private sector,” he said.

He recalled that those outbreaks had taught his government and country that epidemics and pandemics were not just health issues, saying the refusing that the country is defined by these health crises.