The UK Government, on Thursday, handed over the £4.5m refurbished Connaught Hospital Lab to the Ministry of Health in a well-attended ceremony hosted by the Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Brima Kargbo and Deputy Minister of Health I, Madina Rahman.
The laboratory represents the third and final one built by UKaid that will be handed over to Ministry leadership, alongside two additional laboratories in Makeni and Bo, to help the country cope with future disease outbreaks.
The deputy Minister of Health and Sanitation I, Madina Rahman and Sierra Leone’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Brima Kargbo, were joined at a ceremony at Connaught Hospital by the British High Commissioner in Sierra Leone, Guy Warrington, and the Chief Executive of Public Health England (PHE), Duncan Selbie.
The £4.5 million laboratory refurbishment and staff training programme was funded by UKaid and implemented by Public Health England (PHE) in partnership with the Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MoHS). This is part of UKaid’s Resilient Zero Programme which is strengthening Sierra Leone’s ability to detect and respond early to any future Ebola outbreaks or other health emergencies. This transitional programme is the latest step in how the UK is engaged on Ebola in Sierra Leone, moving from emergency response to longer-term, sustainable Sierra Leonean systems and delivery.
The programme is supporting the strengthening of key institutions, and developing district-level surveillance, preparedness and response capabilities. Dr. Brima Kargbo said, “The recognition of diseases through the laboratory system is the foundation of disease control and prevention. Therefore, accurate and timely laboratory services have become the bedrock upon which current disease treatment, prevention and control programmes are based. The reliance on laboratory-derived information has, for several years, been in line with the development of modern medicine and public health. At this stage we are grateful to the UK Government for their invaluable support in this direction.”
These three refurbished laboratories in Freetown, Makeni and Bo will support the country’s public health development by creating an environment where diagnosis of highly infectious diseases like Ebola and Yellow Fever can take place, helping to control their spread. As well as helping to manage large-scale infectious outbreaks, the laboratories improve the overall capacity to diagnose other infectious as well as non-infectious diseases, thereby strengthening the public health system in Sierra Leone.
This laboratory network strengthening programme also recognises that training staff is an essential part of efforts to re-build capacity. As part of the UKaid-funded programme, a cohort of 15 MoHS laboratory technicians will graduate from a PHE molecular virology training programme, ready to support the labs. Several of the graduates have also undergone additional training, which will allow them to train future cohorts in molecular diagnostic techniques to ensure the new function is sustained in the long term.
Speaking at the launch, the British High Commissioner, Guy Warrington said, “I want to congratulate the Ministry of Health and Sanitation for the progress that has been made to renovate these facilities under their leadership. I also want to recognise the newly trained molecular lab technicians for their vital work in running these labs. On behalf of the UK Government I am proud that we were able to support this important work through UKaid funding and with the valuable expertise provided by our colleagues at Public Health England. I look forward to these labs continuing to serve the people of Sierra Leone and helping keep them safe from infectious diseases for many years to come.”
As part of the Resilient Zero programme the formal opening of the laboratories signifies a shift in the UK’s public health response from directly supporting the Government of Sierra Leone to control outbreaks, to restoring and supporting the technical capacity and strength of the country’s health system following the devastation caused by the Ebola outbreak.
Duncan Selbie, Chief Executive of Public Health England said, “The people of Sierra Leone have shown huge resilience in the face of much destruction and disease in recent years. I am proud of the part that PHE has played in working with the Sierra Leone government to help strengthen Sierra Leone’s health system and grow the country’s ability to protect itself against potentially devastating diseases.”
From January 2018 PHE begins a two-year programme of supporting MoHS in developing public health infrastructure to meet International Health Regulations (IHRs). The focus of the Sierra Leone element of the programme will be on long-term sustainability of laboratories, and IHR capacity building integrated within health system strengthening.
The Chair of Medical School Administration Dr. Nimata Madjeks Waulker said she was happy that the British have continued their support to Sierra Leone and hope that the 15 trained staff will be able to work hard and train others.
She said the problem with these structures in Sierra Leone is maintenance, which she said will be there to keep the lab going.
One of the technicians that was trained Sarah Korji said they underwent three months intensive training and they are well prepared to work by themselves if the British staff are not around.
She said they will make sure that the equipment are well taken care of and they will continue to maintained them as it is their baby.
Friday November 03, 2017.
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