As part of Sierra Leone’s efforts to build a multisectoral platform to address anemia, SPRING has been providing support to draft the Sierra Leone National Multi-Sectoral Strategy to Prevent and Control Anemia. This is the first strategy developed in Sierra Leone to specifically address anemia. The working group focused on priority actions for anemia prevention and control that it felt needed to be improved or scaled up. On October 25th, SPRING participated in a meeting in Freetown, Sierra Leone to obtain feedback from in-country stakeholders and validate the strategy’s prioritized actions.
Participants at the meeting included the SUN secretariat, representatives from UNICEF and HKI, as well as reproductive health, malaria, agriculture, neglected tropical diseases, and nutrition. Representatives from relevant departments presented strategy actions and facilitated group discussion to ensure each action aligned with current anemia-related efforts. Specific objectives included improving the prevention and control of infections, prevention of chronic infections and specialized conditions, reproductive health and delivery care, micronutrient intake and diet quality, education of girls and women, and integrated platforms to deliver anemia interventions. Stakeholders emphasized that the strategy should identify opportunities for stakeholders to coordinate activities such as training and advocacy to ensure that implementation is done collaboratively. They also identified the need to develop national guidance to standardize sickle cell care and management.
The strategy will be revised and updated to reflect validation meeting feedback, with a launch tentatively planned for early 2018.
