Strengthening Health Systems in Sierra Leone

ICAP, a major research center located at Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health, was awarded funding from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to support the Government of Sierra Leone’s response to health threats through the strengthening of health systems, enabling the West African nation to improve its response to emerging and future public health threats. This work will build on the lessons learned from the current Ebola outbreak, which Sierra Leone’s fragile health infrastructure struggled to control.

Working in partnership with the Ministry of Health and Sanitation and the National Ebola Response Center, ICAP will provide technical assistance at the national and district levels on infection prevention and control, strategic information systems, and quality improvement.

“This is an important opportunity to work with the Government of Sierra Leone to address gaps and challenges in infectious disease response and control,” said Miriam Rabkin, MD, MPH, ICAP director of health systems strategies and associate professor of Epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health. “By fostering rigorous evaluations, quality improvement activities, and the use of data to guide programs, a strong public health response can be achieved.”

Over time, Sierra Leone has made progress in controlling the Ebola outbreak. Beginning in December 2014, ICAP partnered with the Ministry of Health and Sanitation to conduct a rapid assessment of Community Care Centers, which represent a new model of providing support to patients with Ebola Virus Disease. A description of this assessment was recently published in Lancet Global Health. (Learn more about the ICAP study in an article in the February 13 Transmission.)

“We look forward to continuing our partnership with the Government of Sierra Leone and building on the innovative and significant strides they have made to confront the Ebola outbreak over the past year,” said Wafaa El-Sadr, MD, MPH, director of ICAP and professor of Epidemiology and Medicine. “This project will enable the health system to respond more effectively to prevent, detect, and control infectious disease threats currently and in the future.”