Sierra Leone NCDI Poverty Commission

Commission Members
Co-Chairs
Dr. Santigie Sesay — Directorate of Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health, Ministry of Health and Sanitation
Dr. Marta Lado — Partners In Health
Commissioners
Janet Kayita - World Health Organization
Mutiva Kappia - Directorate of Food and Nutrition, Ministry of Health and Sanitation
Dr. Kiran - King's Sierra Leone Partnership
Gibril A. Bah - Ministry of Youth Affairs
Dr. Haja Ramatulai Wurrie-Kamara — College of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences (COMAHS), University of Sierra Leone
Ibrahim Sorie Koroma — Health Education Division, Ministry of Health and Sanitation
Marta Patino — Partners in Health
James Stevens — Sierra Leone Road Safety Authority
Ibrahim Karbo — National Drug Law Enforcement Agency
Hawanatu K. Koroma — Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender, and Children's Affairs
Mybelle Gamanga — Ministry of Basic Education and Secondary Education
Alie H. D. Mansaray — Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security
Magona M. H. J. Barry — Ministry of Trade and Industry
Dr. Mohamed Jalloh — Sierra Leone Police
Paul Quee — National Revenue Authority
Sulaiman Turay — Standard Bureau
Alhassan B. Kamara — Health for All Coalition
Michael Alex Conteh — Directorate of Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health, Ministry of Health and Sanitation
John Makanga — Resident Soliciter, Ministry of Health and Sanitation
Dr. Small — Surgeon Oncologist
Sierra Leone Updates
An audience of patients, clinicians, Ministry of Health officials, and community members recently gathered to celebrate a historic milestone for Sierra Leone: the launch of a purpose-built PEN-Plus clinic at Koidu Government Hospital. Partners In Health, the implementing partner for PEN-Plus in Koidu, has published an account of the clinic’s services.
A newly published study found that only two of 16 health facilities assessed in nine lower-income countries had all the functional equipment needed to diagnose and manage care for people living with type 1 diabetes. Two of the facilities had none of the necessary equipment.
A recent intensive teaching course aimed to turn care providers already proficient in echocardiography into master trainers. Held in Kenya, the weeklong session included care providers from five countries.
The WHO Regional Office for Africa recently published a landmark report that details the impact and momentum of the PEN-Plus model, providing a valuable tool for advocacy and information about integrated care for people living with severe, chronic noncommunicable diseases.
Dr. Neil Gupta, a pediatrician and the senior director of policy at the NCDI Poverty Network, will join a panel of healthcare providers in an upcoming webinar that explores how PEN-Plus affects the care of children living with severe NCDs. The International Pediatric Association is hosting the webinar on March 25.
Eight-year-old Amza Musa receives free treatment for his sickle cell disease at the PEN-Plus clinic at Koidu Government Hospital in eastern Sierra Leone.
The Network has published PEN-Plus Clinical Tools and Programmatic Standards, a document aimed at informing clinic planning, budgeting, and operations by providing a crisp definition of PEN-Plus clinical care, including the diagnostic, treatment, and patient support services available.
For several years, the local health center had dismissed Fatmata Fofanah’s symptoms as the common cold. Yet those symptoms continued to worsen. “We noticed her heart was beating fast and she was short of breath,” said her mother, Mariama. “Even a few minutes of play would make her heart race.”
The first International Conference on PEN-Plus in Africa provided a platform for health experts, policymakers, civil society organization representatives, donors, people living with noncommunicable diseases, and community advocates to expedite political and financial backing for PEN-Plus.
The Center for Integration Science in Global Health Equity participated in an Africa CDC/African Union workshop, “Non-Communicable Diseases, Injuries, and Mental Health Surveillance: Situational Analysis and Peer Learning,” in July 2023 in Ghana.
Efforts to expand PEN-Plus across sub-Saharan Africa received a major boost today, when the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust announced a $9 million grant to the World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa to expand care for people living with severe noncommunicable diseases (NCDs).
“Help for life and health for all!” wrote Dr. Giacamo Marro of Doctors with Africa CUAMM on the Italian NGO’s blog. “With this message of hope and commitment, chosen by the health personnel, the PEN-Plus clinic for chronic non-communicable diseases at the government hospital in Pujehun was officially opened.”
More than 60 representatives of leading global health policy, technical, advocacy, and financing institutions and people living with NCDs gathered at UNICEF House in New York on September 15, 2022, to introduce the PEN-Plus Partnership, a major international initiative to address the global burden of severe NCDs and injuries that cause more than 500,000 avoidable deaths every year among children and young adults living in extreme poverty.
The Sierra Leone NCDI Poverty Commission report was officially launched by Minister of Health and Sanitation Alpha Tejan Wurie on 26 November 2020.