In terms of available healthcare and health status
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierr ...
is rated very poorly. Globally, infant and maternal mortality rates remain among the highest. The major causes of illness within the country are preventable with modern technology and medical advances. Most deaths within the country are attributed to nutritional deficiencies, lack of access to clean water,
pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...
,
diarrheal diseases,
anemia
Anemia or anaemia (British English) is a blood disorder in which the blood has a reduced ability to carry oxygen due to a lower than normal number of red blood cells, or a reduction in the amount of hemoglobin. When anemia comes on slowly, t ...
,
malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...
,
tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, i ...
and
HIV
The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune ...
/
AIDS.
The Human Rights Measurement Initiative finds that Sierra Leone is fulfilling 62.1% of what it should be fulfilling for the right to health based on its level of income. When looking at the right to health with respect to children, Sierra Leone achieves 76.8% of what is expected based on its current income. In regards to the right to health amongst the adult population, the country achieves only 67.3% of what is expected based on the nation's level of income. Sierra Leone falls into the "very bad" category when evaluating the right to reproductive health because the nation is fulfilling only 42.3% of what the nation is expected to achieve based on the resources (income) it has available.
Health status
The 2014
CIA
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
estimated average life expectancy in Sierra Leone was 57.39 years.
In 2015, after improvements in health in other poorer countries life expectancy for both men and women was the lowest in the world.
Disability
It is estimated that there are about 450,000 disabled people in Sierra Leone,
[Government discussion turns to issues of the disabled in Sierra Leone](_blank)
. Jhr.ca. Retrieved on 2011-03-13. though number could be under-estimated.
Common disabilities in Sierra Leone include
blindness
Visual impairment, also known as vision impairment, is a medical definition primarily measured based on an individual's better eye visual acuity; in the absence of treatment such as correctable eyewear, assistive devices, and medical treatment ...
,
deafness
Deafness has varying definitions in cultural and medical contexts. In medical contexts, the meaning of deafness is hearing loss that precludes a person from understanding spoken language, an audiological condition. In this context it is written ...
, war wounded,
amputees
Amputation is the removal of a limb by trauma, medical illness, or surgery. As a surgical measure, it is used to control pain or a disease process in the affected limb, such as malignancy or gangrene. In some cases, it is carried out on indivi ...
and
post-polio syndrome
Post-polio syndrome (PPS, poliomyelitis sequelae) is a group of latent symptoms of poliomyelitis (polio), occurring at about a 25–40% rate (latest data greater than 80%). These symptoms are caused by the damaging effects of the viral infection ...
.
Emergency medical response
In 2019, having lacked an organised rapid
emergency medical response, the
First Responder Coalition of Sierra Leone
The First Responder Coalition of Sierra Leone (FRCSL) is a coalition of Sierra Leonean and international organizations dedicated to expanding prehospital emergency care and developing emergency medical services in Sierra Leone. It aims to address ...
(FRCSL) was established by five national and international organizations in June to develop
emergency first responder programs across Sierra Leone. The founding members of the Coalition were the
Sierra Leone Red Cross Society Sierra Leone Red Cross Society (SLRCS) was established in 1962 by an act of the Parliament of Sierra Leone and is a national society. It has its headquarters in Freetown.
The SLRCS is to render medical and humanitarian assistance to the Armed Force ...
,
LFR International
LFR International (Lay First Responders) is an American international nonprofit organization focused on prehospital emergency medical research and emergency medical services development in sub-Saharan Africa. LFR launches sustainable prehospita ...
, the
University of Makeni
University of Makeni (formerly known as the Fatima Institute and often known as UNIMAK) is the first private, Catholic, university located in Makeni, Sierra Leone.
History
It was founded as the Fatima Institute on October 8, 2005, by the Emer ...
,
Holy Spirit Hospital
Penn State Health Holy Spirit Medical Center is a 307-bed non-profit Catholic community hospital located in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and serves as the primary facility for its related health system.
History
...
, and
Agency for Rural Community Transformation
Agency may refer to:
Organizations
* Institution, governmental or others
** Advertising agency or marketing agency, a service business dedicated to creating, planning and handling advertising for its clients
** Employment agency, a business that ...
. The establishment of the FRCSL was timely as the 72nd
World Health Assembly
The World Health Assembly (WHA) is the forum through which the World Health Organization (WHO) is governed by its 194 member states. It is the world's highest health policy setting body and is composed of health ministers from member states.
Th ...
had declared emergency care systems essential to
universal health coverage
Universal health care (also called universal health coverage, universal coverage, or universal care) is a health care system in which all residents of a particular country or region are assured access to health care. It is generally organized a ...
in May. The Coalition began work in
Makeni
Makeni is the largest city in the Northern Province of Sierra Leone. The city is the capital of Bombali District, and is the economic center of the Northern Province. Makeni is the fifth largest city in Sierra Leone by population. The city of M ...
, training 1,000 community members to be first responders over a two-month period and equipping each with first aid skills and materials.
Endemic diseases
Yellow fever
Yellow fever is a viral disease of typically short duration. In most cases, symptoms include fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains – particularly in the back – and headaches. Symptoms typically improve within five days. ...
and
malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...
are endemic to Sierra Leone.
Sierra Leone's entire estimated population of 6.5 million is vulnerable to malaria.
[ ] Over two million outpatient visits are reported due to malaria annually, of which half are children under five years of age.
The 2016
Malaria Indicator Survey demonstrated
parasitemia
Parasitemia is the quantitative content of parasites in the blood. It is used as a measurement of parasite load in the organism and an indication of the degree of an active parasitic infection. Systematic measurement of parasitemia is important in ...
ranges from 6 percent in
Western Urban to 58 percent in
Koinadugu
Koinadugu District is a district in the Northern Province of Sierra Leone. It is the largest District in Sierra Leone in geographical area, and one of the least most densely populated. Its capital and largest city is Kabala, which is also one of ...
district, among children 6–59 months of age.
Malaria
transmission has two peaks, during the rainy season in May and in October/November. ''
Plasmodium falciparum'' causes the majority of infections.
Maternal and child healthcare
Of the 20 countries with the highest incidence of
maternal mortality
Maternal death or maternal mortality is defined in slightly different ways by several different health organizations. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines maternal death as the death of a pregnant mother due to complications related to pre ...
, 19 of them are located in Sub-Saharan Africa, with the highest rates in the world occurring in Sierra Leone. One in seventeen women risks dying during pregnancy or
childbirth
Childbirth, also known as labour and delivery, is the ending of pregnancy where one or more babies exits the internal environment of the mother via vaginal delivery or caesarean section. In 2019, there were about 140.11 million births glob ...
.
The 2015 maternal mortality rate per 100,000 births for Sierra Leone is 1,360. This is compared with 970 in 2010 and 1032 in 2008. The under 5 mortality rate, per 1,000 births is 198 and the neonatal mortality as a percentage of under 5's mortality is 25. In Sierra Leone the number of midwives per 1,000 live births is 1 and the lifetime risk of death for pregnant women 1 in 21.
Since the Ebola outbreak of 2014/2015, healthcare facilities have been associated with pain and death. Africans are choosing to reject the safety of hospitals out for any sort of care, especially for childbirth. It is estimated that maternal mortality rates will increase by 74 percent in the coming years.
This statistic has been called the "next wave of deaths from Ebola
" due to the potential increase in maternal deaths because of the avoidance of hospitals.
Mental health
Mental health care in Sierra Leone is almost non-existent. Many sufferers try to cure themselves with the help of traditional healers. During the
Civil War (1991–2002), many soldiers took part in atrocities and many children were forced to fight. This left them traumatised, with an estimated 400,000 people (by 2009) being mentally ill. Thousands of former child soldiers have fallen into substance abuse as they try to blunt their memories. There is one primitive psychiatric facility in Sierra Leone.
Infectious diseases
Sierra Leone suffers from
epidemic
An epidemic (from Greek ἐπί ''epi'' "upon or above" and δῆμος ''demos'' "people") is the rapid spread of disease to a large number of patients among a given population within an area in a short period of time.
Epidemics of infectious ...
outbreaks of diseases including
cholera,
Lassa fever
Lassa fever, also known as Lassa hemorrhagic fever (LHF), is a type of viral hemorrhagic fever caused by the Lassa virus. Many of those infected by the virus do not develop symptoms. When symptoms occur they typically include fever, weakness, ...
, and
meningitis.
[
]
HIV/AIDS
Sierra Leone has a prevalence of HIV/AIDS
Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ...
in the population of 1.6 percent.
Ebola
In 2014 there was an outbreak of the Ebola virus in Sierra Leone. As of August 4, 2014, there had been 691 cases of Ebola in Sierra Leone and 286 deaths.
Health conditions and human rights in Sierra Leone
HIV/AIDS
Discrimination based on HIV status is illegal, but HIV-positive people are highly stigmatized, with HIV-positive children being denied schooling, adults denied jobs, and abandonment by families common. Persons with HIV are often driven to suicide.
Leading causes of death
The leading 10 causes of death in Sierra Leone are:
# Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...
# Lower respiratory infections
Lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI) is a term often used as a synonym for pneumonia but can also be applied to other types of infection including lung abscess and acute bronchitis. Symptoms include shortness of breath, weakness, fever, cough ...
# Neonatal disorders
# Diarrheal diseases
# Ischemic heart disease
# Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, i ...
# Stroke
# Congenital defects
A birth defect, also known as a congenital disorder, is an abnormal condition that is present at birth regardless of its cause. Birth defects may result in disabilities that may be physical, intellectual, or developmental. The disabilities can ...
# HIV/AIDS
Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ...
# Meningitis
Water supply and sanitation
A 2006 national survey found that 84% of the urban population and 32% of the rural population had access to an improved water source
An improved water source (or improved drinking-water source or improved water supply) is a term used to categorize certain types or levels of water supply for monitoring purposes. It is defined as a type of water source that, by nature of its co ...
. Those with access in rural areas were served almost exclusively by protected wells. The 68% of the rural population without access to an improved water source relied on surface water (50%), unprotected wells (9%) and unprotected springs (9%).
20% of the urban population and 1% of the rural population had access to piped drinking water in their home.
Access to an improved water source does not give an indication about whether water supply is continuous. For example, in Freetown taps were running dry for most of the year in 2009. People collected water in containers wherever they can and those who can afford it install water tanks on their houses. Even the fire brigade used its trucks to sell drinking water. There were fights between firefighters and employees of the Guma Water Company, responsible for water supply in Freetown, sometimes resulting in deaths.[Roland Mark]
Water Crisis Threatens Survival in Freetown
Op-Ed in Worldpress.org, June 14, 2009
References
External links
Ministry of Health and Sanitation
The State of the World's Midwifery - Sierra Leone Country Profile
{{Africa topic, Health in