African health officials gathered in Addis Ababa on Wednesday for the opening of the 3rd Pan-African Surgical Healthcare Forum (PASHeF), where Sierra Leone presented its newly completed national strategy to expand access to safe surgical care.
The three-day forum, which runs until Nov. 7, has brought together delegates from 53 African countries to discuss efforts to strengthen surgical systems across the continent.
Sierra Leone’s delegation is led by Dr. Mustapha S. Kabba, Deputy Chief Medical Officer for Clinical Services. Kabba used the opening session to outline the country’s National Surgical, Obstetric and Anaesthesia Plan (NSOAP), launched last week in Freetown with senior government backing.
Kabba said the plan provides a long-term framework to integrate safe surgical care into the national health system and was developed through consultations with local experts and international partners including Mercy Ships, the World Health Organization, and CapaCare. Technical support was also provided remotely by global surgery expert Dr. Walt Johnson.
He said Sierra Leone had fulfilled its commitment made at last year’s PASHeF meeting, when countries agreed to develop national surgical plans. “The NSOAP aligns with our health policy priorities and sets out how we intend to strengthen our workforce, infrastructure, financing and governance,” he told participants.
Kabba highlighted the scale of the country’s unmet surgical needs, noting that one in four Sierra Leoneans lives with a condition requiring surgery and that about a quarter of deaths could be prevented with timely surgical intervention. High out-of-pocket costs continue to limit access for many households, he said.
The plan sets targets including increasing the density of surgical providers to 5 per 100,000 people and raising the overall surgical workforce to 10 per 100,000. It also outlines retention and training strategies to reduce disparities between rural and urban areas.
Delegates at the forum praised Sierra Leone for advancing a national strategy to improve access to safe, affordable and timely surgery, describing it as an example of national leadership in the region.
The conference continues with presentations from other African countries on efforts to build stronger and more resilient surgical systems.
By Francess Kamara
