Scene from Mobile Outreach Clinic, with distancing and masks. Several of the women are holding bags of Pikinmix, a nutritional supplement for malnourished children.
Many supporters of RHCI in Minnesota have been inquiring about the status of the COVID-19 pandemic in Sierra Leone, and how it is impacting RHCI’s programming. Here is an update.
As of July 25, in Sierra Leone 1768 confirmed COVID-19 cases have been reported, compared to 50,291 in Minnesota. Sierra Leone reports a total of 66 deaths since March and Minnesota reports a total of 1571 deaths. The population of Sierra Leone is 2 million more than Minnesota.
These numbers are misleading as it is likely there is under-reporting of cases and deaths in Sierra Leone due to the limited capacity to do testing, and the overall fragile health care system.
Nevertheless, the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected Tikonko Chiefdom and RHCI. The death of Dr. Vandi Sombie due to COVID-19 in May was a devastating loss and resulted in the temporary closing of the Bo Children’s Hospital. The RHCI Mobile Outreach Clinics (previously called Motorbike Clinics) were very temporarily halted and then restarted with increased precautions as it was deemed an essential service that needed to continue despite the pandemic.
In June, with a staff member exposure to COVID-19 in the community, and three people in a nearby village diagnosed with COVID-19, the Mbao-mi Mothers’ Home in Tikonko was temporarily closed to new admissions to prevent it from becoming a hot spot of infection.
Since no further infections were reported in the Chiefdom, Mbao-mi re-opened to new admissions during the first week of July with ongoing precautions such as social distancing, wearing face masks, increased hand washing, surveillance of all staff and patients daily, and not allowing visitors. During the time of closure, RHCI’s transportation system (with the 4 wheel drive trucks) assisted with transportation of pregnant women related to labor and childbirth.
The RHCI COVID-19 Team (in MN and Sierra Leone) will continue to work together and make adjustments to RHCI programming as the situation changes. If the pandemic continues to be controlled in Sierra Leone, RHCI plans to open the Gondama Birth Waiting Home this fall. Watch for more information in the coming month.