July 3, 2015
President Ernest Bai Koroma is to officially launch the Ministry of Health and Sanitation ‘Service Level Agreement’ (SLA) today Friday July 3 at the Miatta conference hall in Freetown.
The July 2015 SLA initiated by the Minister of Health and Sanitation, Dr. Abu Bakarr Fofanah, with support from the staff and management of the ministry, is a guide for implementing partners supporting the public health sector in Sierra Leone.
The development of the SLA process was done with District Health Management Teams in all the districts across the country, the district councils, medical superintendents in hospitals, and health development partners in Sierra Leone.
The SLA guiding principles seek to address country ownership, comprehensiveness, transparency and accountability, appropriate prioritization, efficiency and value for money, quality standard of health care provision and alignment with government priorities.
The reporting requirements, use of government logo and branding, joint monitoring and operational site visits, and exit strategy as contained in the SLA would – after the official launching of the document by President Koroma – take immediate effect.
The SLA, in its definition, is a form of memorandum of understanding that will be signed by the Ministry of Health and Sanitation and the implementing partner prior to implementation of activities in the health sector. The agreement shall be signed at the level of the Chief Medical Officer and above, counter-signed by the District Medical Officer at the receiving district.
In his pre-launching message, Health and Sanitation Minister, Dr. Abu Bakarr Fofanah, on behalf of the ministry, expressed appreciation to all development partners for their support in both the development of the Health Sector Recovery Plan for 2015-2020 and for the ongoing efforts in the operational planning and resource mobilization to ensure the full implementation of the Service Level Agreement.
JAK/KK/MOHS/SLENA