The Pandemic Fund

Background

Sierra Leone was awarded US$20.1 million from the Pandemic Fund to boost health security by increasing the country’s prevention, preparedness, and response (PPR) capabilities. The grant leveraged an additional US$17.1 million in co-investment and US$33.4 million in co-financing. The four Implementing Entities for the project are the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), UNICEF, the World Bank, and the World Health Organization (WHO). Other partners include the Africa Centres for Disease Control, Care, the Global Fund, GOAL, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. 

Since 2016, Sierra Leone has been recovering economically from the devastation brought on by the Ebola virus. The country has taken positive steps to build its capacity to prevent, detect, and respond to public health threats. Despite these efforts, many challenges remain. Poverty is widespread, vaccine coverage is low, and livestock production and processing can contribute to the irrational use of antimicrobials when not done soundly. Climate change is also increasing public health risks via floods, mudslides, and fires, all of which are exacerbated by rising temperatures.

The Pandemic Fund encourages a multisectoral approach, which is embodied by Sierra Leone’s project. The National Public Health Agency is leading the charge, alongside the Ministry of Health and Sanitation, the Ministry of Agriculture and Health Security, the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Gender, the Ministry of Information and Civic Education, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Local Government and Community Development, the Ministry of Social Welfare, the National Disaster Management Agency, the National Early Warning System, Njala University, and the project’s IEs and financers. Participating civil society organizations include Health Alert, the Health for All Coalition, Focus 1000, and the Sierra Leone Union on Disability Issues. 
 

Project objectives

With the Pandemic Fund grant, Sierra Leone’s National Public Health Agency and partners seek to lessen the health, social and economic repercussions of public health emergencies on the country and its people. In doing so, it will pay particular attention to the barriers that prevent girls, women, the elderly, and people living with disabilities from accessing health care. 
 

Implementation arrangements and key components

Sierra Leone’s project maps precisely to the Pandemic Fund’s three priorities: surveillance, laboratory systems, and workforce development. Details about the activities within each area follow. 

1. Surveillance. Activities in this area include integrating environmental and wildlife health into the country’s surveillance systems, establishing antimicrobial resistance (AMR) surveillance systems, strengthening event-based surveillance through improved case investigation protocols and rapid response teams, expanding electronic surveillance platforms to include private and faith-based facilities, and making use of advanced analytics and technologies that can operate across different surveillance platforms. They also include establishing an early warning system for real-time data sharing across the human, animal, and environmental sectors, and holding regular, multi-sectoral meetings to coordinate data collection and surveillance at the national and sub-national levels. Additional activities include training staff at the country’s points of entry to monitor, quarantine, and respond to public health events using a risk-based, One Health approach, implementing community engagement strategies to raise awareness of disease risks and encourage reporting of suspected cases, and managing infodemics by monitoring information sources and rapidly identifying and correcting misinformation.
2. Laboratory systems. This body of work focuses on establishing a national laboratory network with standardized procedures and protocols, procuring additional laboratory equipment and supplies, and strengthening laboratory capacity through technical support and a Laboratory Quality Management System. It also focuses on instituting a specimen referral system spanning the human, animal, and environmental sectors, expanding in-country technical expertise and testing capacity, and boosting biosafety and biosecurity protocols.
3. Workforce development. Activities in this area include implementing a multisectoral One Health workforce strategy, identifying gaps within the multisectoral surge workforce and updating the national surge plan, and increasing human resource capacity across the human, livestock, wildlife, environmental, chemical, and radiology sectors to meet International Health Regulations. 

FAO focuses on animal health, and the WHO focuses on human health, with both entities contributing to areas such as AMR, biosafety, and biosecurity. UNICEF leads on risk communications and community engagement, as well as procurement. The World Bank lends its expertise in capacity-building, infrastructure, and equipment across the health sectors. 
 

Expected outcomes

With the Pandemic Fund grant and the collaboration of its diverse set of partners, Sierra Leone expects to: 

1. Strengthen early warning and surveillance systems to detect and respond to public health threats swiftly
2. Build a sustainable national laboratory system, able to identify and characterize pathogens with epidemic potential, and
3. Boost the capacity of the One Health workforce to respond effectively to public health emergencies.