PROJ10221 Health System Strengthening in Sierra Leone

This is a prior information notice (PIN) only: Publication and a call for competition will be conducted once the scope of work is fully defined and approved.

Sierra Leone has made significant progress in recent years in improving health outcomes, evident in reduced maternal, new-born and child death rates, and increased demand for family planning services.

Despite this, Sierra Leone still has some of the world’s worst health outcomes. Life expectancy at 55 years is amongst the lowest in the world; maternal mortality the highest. The country is also vulnerable to climate change, adverse weather and environmental degradation, and remains susceptible to disease outbreaks (e.g., Ebola and Covid-19). The impact of COVID-19 continues to put significant pressure on Sierra Leone’s health system.

There is however an opportunity to accelerate health progress and improve outcomes. Health remains a top political and national development priority for the President and Government of Sierra Leone (GoSL). Progressive policies have been developed and approved The GoSL is committed to the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) agenda as set out in the Political Directive agreed at UNGA in 2019, and the President has pledged to achieve UHC by 2030.

The programme's intended impact will be to build on the gains from FCDO's current health programme in Sierra Leone to deliver sustainable improvement in health outcomes, particularly for mothers, new-born's, children and adolescents.

It will aim to do this by increasing uptake of quality and equitable health services by target groups within a more resilient and equitable health system, through:

• Strengthening the health system through improved policy and strategy at national level for health governance, leadership, financing and delivery, more and better trained health workers, and efficient procurement and distribution of free healthcare commodities.
• Enhanced delivery of quality, equitable and accessible health services, with clear sustainability plans developed.
• Strengthened community engagement for increased accountability and demand for RMNCAH services.

Please register on the FCDO Supplier Portal for this opportunity (PROJ10221) to receive all communication and updates -https://fcdo.proactisportal.com/Account/Login

There will be an Early Market Engagement event held on 10th Feb 2022. For all information regarding times and venues please ensure to access these details within the additional information provided for PROJ10221 on the FCDO Supplier Portal. Note, there are 2 elements to registration which must not be confused with each other.

1. Suppliers must register their interest to PROJ10221 on the FCDO Supplier Portal to ensure they receive all communications and updates (this is not registration to attend the event)
2. Within the profile of PROJ10221 on the portal, there are attachments containing additional documents which contain the link to register for the EME event.