Facebook Youtube Linkedin

Every Woman Every Newborn EverywherE
Healthy Futures

Country action

Sierra Leone

© WHO/Hickmatu Leigh> Nurses during an administrative meeting at the Princess Christian Maternity Hospital in Freetown, Sierra Leone in June 2022.

Every Woman Every Newborn in Sierra Leone

Download the full profile with additional key demographics, progress against milestones, and more.

This profile was developed in November 2024, using data from 2021-2024. 

Download the full Sierra Leone profile

© WHO/Hickmatu Leigh Magdalene (left) tutors a newly admitted midwifery student, Massah, about family planning methods, specifically the use of male and female condoms, 2022.

MNH Acceleration Plan highlights

In 2026, the priorities in the Sierra Leone’s MNH Acceleration Plan include:  

  • Increase community engagement to promote early initiation (less than 12 weeks of pregnancy) antenatal care. Improve quality of care indicators for antenatal care.
  • Accelerate the planning, deployment and redistribution of the health workforce (doctors, community midwives, midwives, and neonatal nurses).
  • Strengthen adherence to postnatal guidelines and protocols, including by increasing community mobilization for women to attend postnatal care appointments, strengthening accountability at the point of care, and scaling up postpartum family planning.
  • Strengthen emergency obstetric and newborn care (EmONC) services based on the results of the EmONC assessment report. Expand the special care baby units (SCBU) to two remaining districts and hospitals in the western area.
  • Strengthen community accountability systems such as the patient charter, respectful maternal care charter, and citizen report.

© WHO/Hickmatu Leigh 2022.
A nurse sorts and takes record of morning after pills (an emergency contraceptive method) at the Marie Stopes International dispensary in June 2022.

National mortality targets

Maternal
mortality ratio

300 per 100,000 live births
by 2025

Stillbirth
rate

12 per 1,000 live births
by 2030

Neonatal mortality rate

12 per 1,000 live births
by 2030

Progress to meet the national maternal, newborn mortality and stillbirth reduction targets

© WHO/Hickmatu Leigh 2022. A laboratory technician conducts testing for a pregnancy before recommending family planning and contraception to patients at the Marie Stopes International Clinic in Aberdeen, Freetown, Sierra Leone in June 2022.

Progress to meet Every Woman Every Newborn Everywhere coverage targets

© WHO/Hickmatu Leigh 2022. Mariatu and her husband Gibril at an antenatal care appointment at the Princess Christian Maternity Hospital in Freetown, Sierra Leone in June 2022.

Quality of care in Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone is one of the 11 countries that set-up the Network for Improving Quality of Care for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (Quality of Care Network). Sierra Leone’s successes in improving quality of care for maternal, newborn and child health are essential to help reduce maternal and newborn mortality and stillbirths. These include:

  • A Quality RMNCH Strategic Roadmap is implemented, and a National Quality and Patient Safety Policy and roadmap are developed.
  • The World Health Organization’s standards to improve quality of maternal and newborn care, small and sick newborns care, and children and young adolescents care in health facilities are adopted.
  • Respectful Maternity Care Guidelines and training materials were rolled out.
  • The institutionalization of clinical meetings, mortality reviews and near-miss reviews is prioritized, to strengthen facility-level surveillance and response to maternal and perinatal deaths.
  • Mechanisms for community participation were developed, with community engagement guidelines for quality care, community scorecards and dedicated community engagement programmes.  
  • A quality of care dashboard and a reproductive, maternal, newborn and adolescent health Scorecard were introduced into the national DHIS 2 to collect, report and use quality of care indicators and strengthen routine measurement systems.

News and events

Lessons to end postpartum hemorrhage

June 10, 2026

First webinar in a four-part series sharing lessons from the Accelerating Measurable Progress and Leveraging Investments for Postpartum Hemorrhage Impact (AMPLI-PPHI) project. Organized by Jhpiego.

Read more
Load More

Resources

View Resources

See also: ‘Ensuring Life-Saving MNH Commodities at Point of Care Through Supply Chain Reform in Sierra Leone‘, the poster that the Sierra Leone delegation presented at the International Maternal Newborn Health Conference 2026. 

Key Messages on Women’s,Children’s and Adolescents’ Health

For the Seventy-ninth World Health Assembly

These messages were developed by the United Advocacy Working Group for Maternal, Newborn and Child health.

View Resource

International Maternal Newborn Health Conference 2026: country posters

Posters presented by 40 country delegations at the International Maternal Newborn Health Conference 2026.

View Resource

Unified Advocacy Asks for Maternal and Newborn Health

International Maternal Newborn Health
Conference (IMNHC) 2026

These key messages and advocacy asks are intended to equip partners with evidence-based messaging and
resources in the context of IMNHC 2026.

View Resource