The Global Fund involvement in to Sierra Leone dated back 2002, since that time, the Global Fund have been providing the bulk of the funding to support the fight against TB, Malaria and HIV/AAIDS. But over time the Global Fund has increasingly interested in strengthening the Health System Component (HSS) as a whole underpinning the realization of the fact that unless we address the issue of the health work force, pharmaceutical supply change and enhancing the capacity of hospitals and laboratories, all investment in these interventions would come at stake has had been with Ebola.

The National AIDS Commission and its partners commemorate this year World AIDS Day on Tuesday 1^st December 2015 at the Kenema City Plaza. This year’s event which is held with the theme “Fast-track to end AIDS: get tested” has the former Vice President of Uganda Dr. Speciosa Wandira Kazibwe as a special Guest of Honour.

Launching of the HIV/AIDS National Strategic Plan 2016 - 2020

Delivering the commemoration message the Minister of Health and Sanitation who represented His Excellency Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma thanked the people of Kenema for hosting the World’s AIDS Day,as this was part of government’s devolved commitment in bringing its people closer. The function was capped with the launching of the 2016 strategy geared towards reducing new HIV infections to zero.

DUO HIV/SYLPHILIS RAPID TEST KIT LAUNCHING          DATE: 24TH NOVEMBER 2015 VENUE:     DWORZARK FARM COMMUNITY HOSPITAL.

In an effort to intensify and increase awareness of HIV among women, adolescent girlsand children, the First Lady of the Republic of Sierra Leone; Madam Sia Nyama Koroma together with the National HIV and AIDS Secretariat, National HIV and AIDS control programme, UNAIDS, WHO and UNFPA on Tuesday 24^th November launched a Duo HIV/Syphilis Rapid Test Kit at the Dworzark Farm Community Health Centre in Freetown. This SD Bioline HIV/Syphilis Duo rapid test kit is an efficient and economical diagnostic tool that allows HIV pregnant women to be screened for both HIV and syphilis concurrently and delivers actionable results to clinicians at the point-of-care—enabling them to treat patients promptly on a case by case basis.

The former UNAIDS Executive Director, Dr. (Baron) Peter Piot, A Belgian microbiologist known for his research into Ebola and AIDS is currently in Sierra Leone assessing the trend of the Ebola epidemic in the country. He was accompanied by representatives from the London School of Hygiene and The Welcome Thrust from the United Kingdom. In a meeting with stake holders in the fight against HIV/AIDS held in morning hours of Saturday 20th December, 2014, he expressed his solidarity and the hard times Sierra Leoneans have gone through since the epidemic broke out almost seven months ago. He said, his visit to Sierra Leone was to hear from larger section of the populace and to build synergy with the existing structures set up by the government. He however expressed hope from all the treatment centers he visited that Sierra Leone would overcome the deadly hemorrhagic disease as we all look forward to developing a vaccine in the coming months.