News & Stories

In mid-March, when Dr. Chiyembekezo Kachimanga stood in front of a hushed crowd of Partners In Health (PIH) staff members and began talking about COVID-19, the disease had not yet made its way to Sierra Leone—but he knew it soon would, and time was short.

This month’s rollout of an electronic medical records system at a Partners In Health clinic in Sierra Leone already is having transformative impacts for patients, staff, and care.

Partners In Health strives to address these inequalities by working with midwives—often expectant mothers’ most trusted companions—to expand access to women’s health services in the countries where we work.

This time two years ago, Margaret had never heard of choriocarcinoma—cancer of the cervix and uterus. So when clinicians at Koidu Government Hospital (KGH), the Partners In Health-supported facility in Kono, Sierra Leone, diagnosed her with it in July 2018, she remembers feeling a wave of fearful confusion.

In August 2018, 17-year-old Isata Biango welcomed her triplets, Sarah, Caleb, and Isaiah Biango , into the world at PIH-supported Wellbody Clinic in Kono, Sierra Leone.

When a young pregnant woman was rushed into the maternity ward at PIH-supported Koidu Government Hospital (KGH) in Kono, Sierra Leone, Isata Dumbuya, head of reproductive, maternal, neonatal, and child health, recognized the look of anguish on her team’s faces. 

In Sierra Leone, where extreme poverty means nearly half of families don’t have enough food on a daily basis, children are particularly vulnerable to malnutrition. The consequences of this lack of nutrition are staggering, and long-term.

Cylian B. Kargbo is planning for her future. “My birthday is coming up!” the 12-going-on-13-year-old from Calaba Town, Sierra Leone, proudly announced, looking ahead a few weeks when she would celebrate with, first and foremost, “pizza!” Further down the line, Cylian has even bigger dreams: “I want to be a lawyer—study abroad, then come back to Sierra Leone to help the people in my country.”