Investing in the health of women, children and adolescents will provide significant economic benefits, including increased productivity, reduced healthcare costs, and a more resilient future workforce. Still, progress is stagnant. Every year, approximately 5 million children die before their fifth birthday. Half of these deaths have been recorded in sub-Saharan Africa. A woman loses her life to pregnancy or childbirth every two minutes. 70% of that occurs in sub-Saharan Africa. Meanwhile, the global adolescent birth rate for girls aged 10-14 is 1.5 per 1,000 women, disproportionately high in the Global South where access to education and reproductive healthcare is limited.
To accelerate progress and reverse these trends, political will must be transformed into concrete commitments. Commitment gives meaning to our aspirations. They are forced to use data for action, implement intentional legal reforms, and develop strategic partnerships that are heading towards a healthier and equitable society.
Under the leadership of President Julius Maada Bio and strong support from the Ministry of Health, Sierra Leone has made mother and child health a priority and declared mother and child mortality rates a national emergency. Our approach is clear. To directly and decisively tackle this challenge, we are promoting policy reforms and innovative use of data.
Women, girls and children are the most vulnerable, but access to health and economic opportunities can transform our society and economy. Every mother who dies, every baby who doesn’t survive is not just a tragedy. It is Clarion’s call to urgently commit to violating the right environment to help our country thrive. Prioritizing their health is not an option. It is essential to build a society rooted in dignity and equality. A viable commitment to women, children and adolescent health (WCAH) must be fundamental rather than an afterthought in every policy, every program, and every investment we make.
Use data and technology to promote accountability
Gender equality is often surrounded by ambitious goals for the future. However, if equality is delayed, survival will also be delayed. At Sierra Leone, we are making another path. It is a place where health systems, together with women, girls and children, are at the heart of aggressive, data-driven care.
Our systems need to respond to the needs of the most vulnerable and require real-time viable data. Therefore, we launched a pregnancy, service tracking application (Prestrack) to monitor pregnancy, mother and child deaths. This tool is more than just a reporting mechanism. This is an accountability framework that helps you identify where your lives are and respond quickly.
Recent data shows:
•86% of women aged 15-49 had postnatal health checks within two days of giving birth.
•83% of newborns underwent health checks within the same time frame.
•In 2023 alone, over 640,000 women accessed modern birth control, nearly 770 mothers died with 240,000 unintended pregnancies, more than 87,000 unsafe abortions, and 70.123 child deaths per 100 births.
These tools allow you to track progress, respond effectively, and be accountable to the community.
Implement laws to protect the rights of women, children and girls
To protect lives, you also need to protect your rights. Legislative reform is the basis of Sierra Leone’s strategy to accelerate WCAH’s progress.
The Ministry of Health and other Line ministries are committed to promoting the WCAH Act and the Child Rights Act to reconstruct the legal landscape of women, children and girls. The Safe Maternal and Reproductive Health Bill reflects initiatives for concrete government action as part of a broader national effort to enhance protection through bold, rights-based reform.
These efforts aim to represent structural change, criminalize child marriage, expand access to skilled birthers, and institutionalize safe maternality as a legal right embedded in the health system.
We are committed to ensuring these priorities are embedded in the parliamentary process, protected beyond the political transition and defended at the highest level, including the African Union. They reflect our commitment to institutionalized care, safety and dignity for all women, children and girls in Sierra Leone.
Leverage strategic partnerships to broaden your impact
If we, as an African government, do not take WCAH seriously, then no one else will. It is up to us to make these issues permanent fixtures on all national and continental agendas. We cannot address only homeland and child mortality rates. Strategic partnerships such as the Global Leader Network for Women, Girls and Youth Health (GLN) are essential to accelerating regional progress.
GLN is a unique health initiative that brings together heads of state, ministers and senior policymakers in the Global South to raise WCAH as a political priority. For Sierra Leone, participation in GLN is not symbolic, it is strategic. Through this network, we amplify global voices, strengthen advocacy in forums like the G20, and are alongside other countries that share their commitment to bold reform.
The latest GLN Technology Council in Durban has reaffirmed our national commitment to gender equality as a driver of health outcomes. We have also been able to share our progress, learn from our peers, and help shape the global conversation about investing in the health and well-being of women, children and adolescents.
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Commitment is the driver behind Sierra Leone’s involvement in the health of women, children and adolescents, and it continues to be the basis for our actions and decision-making. It is proof that countries seeking to accelerate progress in the WCAH framework should stand firm with practical commitments, as it is the only way to achieve important results.
When women, children and young people thrive, the nation also thrives.
Dr. Lynda Farma-Grant is the program manager for the newly established National Child Health Program, Ministry of Health, and leads the national strategy to reduce mortality among those under the age of 5 and expand equitable access to life-saving care for all children. Her previous roles include serving as assistant program manager for the Sierra Leone Extended Vaccination Program (EPI) for five years. As a senior registrar for the government of Sierra Leone, she also helped design and implement major maternal and child health initiatives. Dr. PharmaGrant is the focal point of representing Sierra Leone with the initiative of the Global Leader Network. Her work reflects her deep commitment to gender equality, strengthening the health system and protecting the rights and well-being of women, children and adolescents across the country.
