Counteracting the High Child Mortality Rate in Sierra Leone
The high child mortality rate continues to be a major global challenge. The mortality rates of newborns and infants in Sierra Leone are among the highest in the world at 34 and 82 per 1,000 live births respectively.
The under-five mortality rate in the country is also extremely high.
This indicator shows the probability that a child will die before reaching the age of five and is often used in humanitarian aid as a reference value for health care in a country. In Sierra Leone, the under-five mortality rate is 111 deaths per 1,000 (for comparison: in Germany this figure is 4 and worldwide 38).
Improving the healthcare system can prevent child mortality
These staggering figures reflect the pervasive challenges faced by families and children in Sierra Leone, such as poor health practices and inadequate and ill-equipped health facilities. There are still too few healthcare facilities and nursing staff.
There is a critical shortage of qualified health personnel in Sierra Leone. All districts in the country fall short of the minimum density of health professionals recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). While the WHO recommends 22.8 health professionals per 10,000 inhabitants, the figure in Sierra Leone was just 7.5 per 10,000 in 2018.
Many children do not receive adequate medical treatment and there is a lack of medication
These considerable deficiencies in the healthcare system mean that many children cannot even be treated for serious illnesses. According to UNICEF, the most common causes of death among newborns in Sierra Leone include premature birth, lack of oxygen, sepsis and pneumonia. In children under the age of five, these are malaria, acute respiratory infections and diarrheal diseases. Many of these deaths are preventable if they were treated in time by qualified healthcare providers and the necessary medication was available.
Cap Anamur improves health care for children
Inadequate staffing and a lack of medicines have long been a major obstacle to a resilient health system in Sierra Leone. We at Cap Anamur want to counteract this by sending our trained medical staff to our partner hospital in Sierra Leone. At the Ola During Childrens Hospital in Freetown, children and their families are continuously cared for by our pediatric nurses and pediatricians.
In this way, we are helping to reduce child mortality in the country. In addition to the direct medical treatment of our patients, we also train and develop medical staff in order to create sustainable structures that will improve the health situation for children in Sierra Leone in the long term. We also ensure that there is always enough medication available in the children’s hospital to treat illnesses such as malaria, diarrhea and viral diseases.