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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.

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

MNH Acceleration Plan highlights

In 2024, the priorities in Sierra Leone’s MNH Acceleration Plan include:  

  • Develop a resource mobilization strategy (for both donor and domestic funding ) for accelerated reduction of maternal and newborn mortality    
  • Develop advocacy tools for sustained domestic investment in reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health, including vulnerable population groups.
  • Review, revise and prioritize free health care commodities for maternal and newborn health for national  procurement   
  • Enable electronic tracking of every pregnancy to monitor outcome and implement the electronic labour care guide.

© 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.

© 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

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Resources

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Compendium on respectful maternal and newborn care

The compendium supports efforts to end mistreatment and achieve respectful maternal and newborn care. It is published by WHO together with UNFPA, UNICEF and the United Nations’ Special Programme on Human Reproduction (HRP), with support from Jhpiego and the MOMENTUM Country and Global Leadership programme. 

The purpose of the compendium is to consolidate key evidence, tools and resources to support the practical implementation of respectful maternal and newborn care across different contexts. It provides programme managers with essential background to build a foundational understanding of mistreatment and respectful care. As such, it serves as a comprehensive resource that integrates theory with practice.

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Maternal and Newborn Health Fund Annual Impact Report 2024

Since 2010, countries supported by the Maternal and Newborn Health Fund have reduced maternal mortality by 40%, nearly twice the global rate, contributing to avert an estimated 75,000 maternal deaths. The Maternal and Newborn Health Fund is UNFPA’s flagship initiative to expand equitable access to quality reproductive, maternal, and newborn healthcare.

The Fund’s Annual Impact Report 2024, released this month, details significant progress in reducing maternal and newborn mortality in 32 priority countries. In particular, the report highlights the impact of training and deploying midwives, enhancing emergency obstetric and newborn care, supporting national maternal and perinatal death surveillance and response systems and providing surgical fistula repair.

Download the report

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Programme manager’s handbook for maternal, child and adolescent health

The World Health Organization maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health e-handbook is a new resource for Ministry of health programme managers. It offers  step-by-step guidance for implementing effective health programmes, from planning to monitoring and evaluation, with concise overviews of key activities and interventions along the life course.  The e-handbook references WHO documents, to ensure that programme managers have access to evidence-based strategies and best practices tailored to various contexts.

This e-handbook contains a prioritised list of documents; for a full list of documents go to the resource library for maternal, newborn, child, adolescent health and ageing: https://uhcc.who.int/mca/

View Resource

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Photo © 2020 WHO / Tatiana Almeida
Midwives during WHO Head of Sub-Office Dr Kai von Harbou visit to Hope Field Hospital

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