Alert Health Sierra Leone has engaged Local Authorities in Kono on Social Accountability. The one-day engagement with local authorities in Kono brought together Health officials, Civil Society, religious leaders, Security Sector, Youths, local authorities, Teachers, Students and the media among others. The meeting was staged at the New Youths Center, Gbense Chiefdom, Koidu City, Kono District.
Speaking on the purpose of the engagement, the Project Officer African Health Budget Network-Health Alert, David Joseph Allieu, said the rationale behind the engagement was to advocacy and sensitize local Council and the District Health Management Team to develop a right based approach and domestic resource mobilization strategy in the post COVID-19 intervention and financial sustainable. He added that the event was to address any future disease outbreak and health security in the country and to further educate the public about the role of the coalition to follow up on COVID-19 finances, vaccines availability, access and the security. He disclosed the engagement was supported by Ford Foundation through African Health Budget Network (AHBN) and implemented by Health Alert Sierra Leone.
He maintained that the COVID-19 has caused significance health, social and economic impacts worldwide. He added that vaccination is on for the most effective measure to prevent the spread of the virus and protect individual and the Communities. He said that vaccine hesitancy and access issues had led to low vaccine uptake rates in many countries.
He pointed out that the high based approach to health care is based on the recognition of the fundamental human rights to health including access and to qualify health care services and health education. He said the right based approach focuses on the needs of the less privilege in the country.
" COVID-19 is still in existence only the emergencies restrictions were lifted to ease the movement of the people" he said.
He noted that people should also ensure to take responsibilities in the fight against addressing COVID-19 in the country.
He said that as civil society organizations are fully supporting in the fight against COVID-19 and other health diseases and to improve on the current health status of the country.
He urged the people of Kono District to help government in the area of revenue mobilization and adhere to the measures put in place in the fight against COVID-19.
Aiah Michael Yomba, the Senior District Health Education officer at the District Health Management Team Kono, highlighted some of the successes and prepared measures put in place in the fight against COVID-19 and any other diseases outbreak in the district.
For the COVID-19 vaccination, he said in 2021 the DHMT was able to vaccinate Forty Seven thousand, and three hundred and twenty-two thousand nine hundred and ninety-seven in 2022. He continued that in 2023, they vaccinated three hundred and seventy- nine thousand two hundred and three.
"We have put Mechanism in place to address any future outbreak in district level and more health workers have be trained", he said.
Other stakeholders made brilliant contributions and vowed to support the government in revenue mobilization strategy to combat COVID-19 and other health related diseases in the future. The expressed gratitude to African Health Budget Network and Health Alert Sierra Leone for such an engagement related to the prevention of COVID-19 and other health related issues.
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