First Lady Madam Sia Koroma Delivering Keynote address

A campaign aimed at protecting the lives of mothers and babies, ‘Bon pikin we nor get HIV’ was  launched on 10th December 2012 by the First Lady of the republic of Sierra Leone Sia Nyama Koroma at the Lumley Government hospital in Freetown. The launching which has as its theme “My Right, Your Right, Our Rights: To give birth to a life without HIV” is being supported by UNAIDS, National HIV/AIDS Secretariat (NAS), and implemented by Voice of Women (VOW) in collaboration with Office of the First Lady (OFL).

The ceremony was chaired by Alhaji Dr Momodu Sesay; Program Manager of the National AIDS Control Program.

In his introductory statement, the chairman stated that the main objective of the campaign is to create awareness among the population of women and especially men that were critical to antenatal care and Parent Mother to Child Transmission. He said antenatal care is the entry point for all child health services. Statistics has shown that 87% of pregnant women made first visit, 72% of them made visit four times. This he said was an improvement to Maternal Care due to the Free Health Care Initiative..

In his statement, Director of NAS, Dr Brima Kargbo said that the HIV virus was identified in Sierra Leone in 1987 with only one person infected. He said that since then 48,000 Sierra Leoneans are living with the virus, and that every day people are having the    virus. He further highlighted ways in which the virus can be contacted which were through h sex, blood transfusion, using unsterilized    needles, blades and Mother to child Transmission.

Director of NAS Dr. Kargbo making a statement.

Dr Kargbo stated that last year, President Ernest Koroma launched the National Strategic Plan for HIV/AIDS for Sierra Leone (2011-2015).This he said was aimed to achieve zero new infections by 2015.PMTCT coverage has increase nationwide from 5% in 2005 to 57% in 2011, and the percentage of children born without HIV from HIV positive mothers is 95%.

The prevalence among pregnant women is 3.2%.these figures are as a result of testing and adherence to treatment. And it has been sighted that Sierra Leone would be one of the countries in which babies would be born without HIV by 2015.

UNAIDS Country Coordinator Dr. Job Sagbohan lauded the First Lady in promoting maternal and child

UCC   Dr. Job Sagbohan making a statement

health, sexual and reproductive health, women’s right, empowering women and girls for their social economic development and also for all initiative she had taken in ensuring good health and wellbeing to mothers and babies in Sierra Leone as well as Africa. He also commended the President for his strong political will in addressing HIV and AIDS in Sierra Leones. Dr. Job further assured his organizations’ continued commitment and support in the fight against HIV/AIDS in Sierra Leone and stressed the need to achieve the three zeros: Zero HIV New Infection, Zero Stigma and Discrimination and Zero AIDS Related Deaths    by 2015.He praised the network of women living with HIV in empowering other women to ensure that the disease is not passed from mother to children. He said this could be possible through frantic effort of a common cause of hope and sustained barking. He acknowledged the challenges to improve and expand prenatal care in rural areas.

The Acting Minister of Health and Sanitation Tamba Borbor Sawyerr said that HIV/AIDS is one contributing factor of high mortality and child morbidity rate in Sierra Leone.
He said that according to projections, 3,100 pregnant women are currently living with the virus.

Medical Superintendent of the Lumley Government hospital, Dr. Olivette Buck said that the hospital had a HIV counseling and testing unit. She said that among those tested, the infection rate among pregnant women seem to be reducing. She appealed for greater support to Government for the running of the hospital.

Other speakers from the network of HIV Positives, AIDS HealthCare Foundation, parliamentarian and the Lumley community also made short statements.

The wife of the Vice-President, in her statement emphasised the lack of education and information as the major cause of on the spread of HIV in young girls. She encouraged parents to ensure the education of the girls and also to discourage teenage pregnancy and early marriages.

Delivering the keynote address at the ceremony, the First Lady, Mrs. Sia Nyama Koroma said that her husband President Koroma promised to work for the nation and that she would always be seen side by side complementing his works in all spheres, with special focus on the health sector. Her message was to arm mothers with the right information they needed to prevent HIV transmission and protect the most innocent baby with the disease.

A cross section of pregnant women and lactating mothers at the launching ceremony

She thanked the Lumley doctors and community members for maintaining the facility given to them years ago. On a special note, she advised parents and guardians to discourage kids from engaging on commercial sex in order to help keep them safe from contacting the disease.

Mrs. Koroma called on Sierra Leonean women and the general public to visit the hospitals and health clinics for HIV testing. By so doing, she went on Sierra Leone stands to achieve the zero prevalence of the disease by 2015.