SIAPS held an event on December 13, 2017, at the Ministry of Health and 
Sanitation in Freetown, Sierra Leone, to mark the closing of its project in the country. Leaders from the Directorate of Drugs and Medical Supplies (DDMS), the Pharmacy Board of Sierra Leone, the National Malaria Program, and the College of Medicines and Allied Health Sciences attended, along with representatives from UNICEF, John Snow International, the Clinton Health Access Initiative, and other partners.
SIAPS has been working in the country since September 2015 as part of a special two-year project to help rebuild and strengthen Sierra Leone’s pharmaceutical system following the Ebola outbreak. Activities aimed to support the DDMS and other directorates in bolstering Sierra Leone’s pharmaceutical supply chain at all levels, including districts and peripheral health units. The project also developed tools to help managers access accurate, timely data and information for managing pharmaceutical services.
SIAPS Country Project Director Murtada Sesay spoke of key program achievements at the event. These included:
• Supporting the DDMS in restructuring and developing the leadership capacity of key staff. The project also supported the development of the Antimicrobial Resistance National Strategic Plan and the launch of Drug and Therapeutics Committees.
• Helping the country institute a continuous results monitoring and support system using a series of indicators to track, monitor, and improve factors that influence medicine availability, pharmaceutical management, and rational medicine use.
• Implementing and conducting training in electronic data management tools (Quantimed, Pipeline, and QuanTB) and supporting the National AIDS Secretariat in establishing the Sierra Leone Pharmaceutical Dashboard, a web-based early warning system.
Attendees at the event also made final plans for transitioning activities to the government and partner organizations. Read more here about SIAPS’ work in Sierra Leone.
“We want to thank you and your organization for your outstanding performance and the significant gains you made in strengthening the health supply chain system in Sierra Leone for the past two years.” – UNICEF Sierra Leone
