Sierra Leone

MSF's Betty Raney describes how she and her team reduced maternal deaths in Sierra Leone through emergency obstetric care.

Betty Raney and Yvonne Nzomukunda describe MSF's efforts to prevent maternal and infant deaths in childbirth in Sierra Leone, where the health system is still recovering from war.

Ensuring pregnant women have timely access to emergency obstetric care has reduced maternal deaths by as much as 74 percent in parts of Burundi and Sierra Leone.

MSF is working with Sierra Leone's Ministry of Health to counter a deadly cholera outbreak in the capital, Freetown.

Doctors and nurses treat over 750 children every month at a hospital in Gondoma, Sierra Leone.

By encouraging women to come to clinics sooner, MSF is helping more women in Sierra Leone deliver children safely.

MSF welcomes Sierra Leone's move to offer free maternal and child healthcare and hopes this will improve access for these vulnerable groups.

by Dr. Martin De Smet, Head of MSF's Working Group on Malaria

"The health situation in Sierra Leone is in a state of emergency, with people dying every day because they do not have access to treatment."

MSF is taking part in a vaccination campaign targeting 525,000 people in response to an outbreak of yellow fever in Sierra Leone. The five-day campaign started on January 10.

In a new report launched today, MSF said many more lives can be saved if newer effective strategies to tackle malaria are more widely implemented. The report, titled "Full Prescription; better malaria treatment for more people, MSF’s experience,"describes the organization’s work in Sierra Leone, Chad and Mali, and shows that unnecessary deaths can be avoided with simple, affordable treatment and diagnostic tools available today.

Pediatrician Leo Ho worked in the intensive care unit of an MSF-run hospital in Bo, Sierra Leone, an area plagued by malaria. Here, he reflects on his assignment through images captured by photojournalist Francesco Zizola.