China and UNICEF have formed a strategic partnership to improve newborn and child survival in Sierra Leone, committing new resources and technical assistance to reduce preventable child deaths and strengthen the country’s health-care systems. The programme, funded by the Global Development and South-South Cooperation Fund (GDF) and facilitated by the China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA), will be carried out in collaboration with Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Health.
Sierra Leone’s child mortality rate remains unacceptable: nearly one out of every eleven children dies before the age of five, with the majority of these deaths caused by preventable causes such as pneumonia, malaria, diarrhoea, and neonatal complications. The new initiative, called Accelerating Newborn and Child Health in Sierra Leone for Improved Survival and Well-being, seeks to address these issues directly by increasing frontline capacity, improving medical supplies and infrastructure, and strengthening health information and referral systems.
The programme’s key components include increasing the capacity of nearly 1,000 healthcare and community health workers, upgrading over 80 health facilities with essential medicines and solar-powered systems, improving data systems to support evidence-based decision-making, and strengthening referral networks and post-discharge care for newborns and children. The partners hope to reach more children and reduce avoidable deaths by combining workforce development, supply chain, and infrastructure investments with better data use.
The initiative is expected to directly benefit nearly 400,000 children while indirectly reaching over 1.1 million people in Sierra Leone through improved, more resilient health services. It also supports progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals in areas such as health, nutrition, and energy, while complementing UNICEF Sierra Leone’s 2025-2030 Country Programme and regional priorities such as Africa’s Agenda for Children 2040.
The formal agreement was signed during events commemorating the 10th anniversary of China-Sierra Leone’s collaborative efforts in successfully combating Ebola. Senior officials who took part in the symbolic handover included China’s Vice Premier Liu Guozhong, Sierra Leone’s Vice President Dr Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh, Chinese Ambassador to Sierra Leone H.E. Wang Qing, and UNICEF Representative Rudolf Schwenk. The CIDCA agreement was signed on November 4 in Beijing by Gilles Fagninou, UNICEF Regional Director for West and Central Africa, on behalf of the organisation. A UNICEF delegation, led by George Laryea-Adjei, Director of the Programme Group at UNICEF Headquarters, and Mr Fagninou, met with Vice Minister Zheng Zhe of China’s National Health Commission to strengthen technical cooperation.
