For a mother rushed into a health facility for an emergency delivery, or a family relying on a clinic for family planning supplies, the difference between having the right medicine on hand and not having it can be life-changing. The Minister of Health, Dr. Austin Demby, says that gap is about to narrow significantly after the Government completed the procurement of a US$2 million worth of essential medicines and reproductive health commodities now sitting in the National Medical Supplies Agency’s (NMSA) stores, ready to move out to health facilities nationwide.
Funded through the Ministry’s Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) and Rights Project, the drugs are earmarked to directly respond to the leading causes of deaths among mother and babies including bleedding after birth, high blood pressure and sepsis. The products comprise of maternal and reproductive health, family planning, Caesarean sections, normal deliveries and emergency care commodities– the everyday essentials that keep women, newborns and families safe.
A further US$100,000 was set aside for UNFPA as Government’s co-financing share under the COMPACT Agreement for Family Planning, a contribution that will be matched dollar-for-dollar to double the funding pool for family planning supplies to US$200,000.
“This investment addresses part of our national commodity gap and demonstrates Government’s continued commitment to achieving the triple zero targets of the 300 Days of Activism. The supplies are targeted at directly improving the availability of essential medicines and protecting critical health services for women, children and families across Sierra Leone,” the Minister of Health, Dr. Austin Demby, said.
With the buying done, the real work begins: getting the supplies out of the warehouse and onto clinic shelves. NMSA says it is now working with the ministry’s leadership and health facility management teams across the country to get the commodities where they are needed the most.