EU & Emergency NGO promote health and education for children in Western Area Rural District, Sierra Leone

EMERGENCY NGO organization is pleased to announce the results of the first semester of the activities related to the project in Goderich and in the Western Area Rural District. The project, entitled “Paediatric healthcare in Sierra Leone: a network for service delivery and coordination among Civil Society Organizations – Local Authorities – Government Institutions”, is co-funded by the European Union and implemented in partnership with the Western Area Rural District Council (WARDC), and Precious Gems Rescue Mission International (PGRMI), a national voluntary organization.

The main aim of the project is to improve health and educational service delivery for vulnerable children in the Western Area Rural District by facilitating strong partnerships among civil society organizations and local authorities.

The project will establish a network for the promotion of children’s health and education in order to coordinate and implement national health programmes on malaria and malnutrition treatment for children in WARD and Freetown area. EMERGENCY, in collaboration with the two partners – WARDC and the PGRMI – is leading an intervention to strengthen local capacities and enhance the coordination of government and community based actors.

The project will also strengthen health services delivery with the provision of free medical treatment and hospitalization available in Emergency Paediatric Centre in Goderich and through the implementation of health promotion activities in 60 schools in the Western Area, which will address children, teachers and communities. These activities will ensure that the communities receive education sessions on good hygiene promotion, the importance of immunization, the risk of malaria and child nutrition.

Six months after the beginning of the project 480 awareness sessions have been held in 20 schools in WARD and 16,645 children have been treated in EMERGENCY Paediatric Centre OPD and 957 admitted in the paediatric ward.

Furthermore, the project minimizes the risk of school drop-out of sick children hospitalized in EMERGENCY Paediatric Centre for long periods, mainly due to trauma injuries, by providing individual and group lessons to sick hospitalized children. To date, the two teachers from PGRMI have provided remedial classes to 52 children hospitalized. In addition to these remedial classes, the two teachers have also played a crucial role in talking with the families of children not enrolled in schools about the importance of education.