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 current portfolio of the grant to Sierra Leone is 103 million Dollars for 2016-2017, a significant increase of what Sierra Leone have been receiving from the Global Fund since its inception. We have also seen a momentous shift in the policy of its operations in Sierra Leone under the charismatic leadership of Dr. Mark Dybul, Executive Director of The Global Fund who was on a three days visit to Sierra Leone dated 28^th to the 30th April 2016.

Dr. Mark Dybul is an American diplomat, physician and medical researcher, his wide ranging scientific and clinical research interests have covered the fields of molecular biology, microbiology, virology, pharmacology and especially infectious diseases. He and his esteemed colleagues have published widely in these fields, and he is a much sought after speaker at leading medical conferences in infectious diseases. Of special significance are his original research papers in virology, microbiology and infectious diseases, especially their ground-breaking discoveries in the field of HIV and other viral infections.

Accompany him to State House to meet The President, Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma were the Hon. Minister of Health & Sanitation Dr. Abubakarr Fofanah, the Chief

Medical Officer Dr. Brima Kargbo, Dr. Mike Gboun UCC UNAIDS, Madam Mary Okumu UN-WOMEN,  Lionel Caruna  G/F portfolio Manager to-Sierra Leone and Rev. Almamy Kargbo Chair of CCM-SL.  Dr. Mark Dybul  thanked His Excellency for his exemplary leadership and his government resilience approach in ending the Ebola outbreak and praised him for putting a health recovery system that focused not only on having a system that will respond on any emergency rapidly but also address maternal child health. In his remarks, The President Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma thanked Dr. Mark Dybul for his swift response to his telephone call for support in eliminating the EVD .He informed him about the 10,000 health workers to be recruited to address health need in every community and the establishment of IHPAU; all of which geared towards rebuilding quality and efficiency in the health sector. The president assured him that his government will do all it could in addressing the issue of health in Sierra Leone.

In another development, Dr. Mark Dybul met a cross set of key affected population-most of whom are beneficiaries of Global fund support which was another huge success; mentioned but a few….. The Network of HIV positives (NETHIPS) Voice of Women (VOW) Dignity Association groups and HIV vulnerable children (HAPPY Kids) etc.

In addition the meeting with the Minister of Finance enabled both the global fund and the government of Sierra Leone to explore mechanism to address issues related to domestic financing of health programme, sustainability of the community health workers programme as well as possibilities to review the tax exemption status on Global Fund grants implemented through non-governmental principle and sub recipients.

The minister welcomed the decision from the just-concluded Global Fund Board meeting.which primarily aimed at strengthening the health system specifically dealing with diseases such as HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria.

At a climax of his visit, a press conference was held with the media providing an opportunity to discuss the implementation of the Global Grant in Sierra Leone, identified bottlenecks and the way forward. A cocktail dinner was held at Radisson Blue Hotel at Aberdeen as a farewell.

By Courtesy of Ibrahim Kamara

IT Manager - NAS