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November 30, 2010

'A new dawn' in health care in Sierra Leone

John Donnelly

This is the fourth in a series of blogs from the Ministerial Leadership Initiative for Global Health's Learning Collaborative Forum in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. 

The idea was to hold a mock press conference, but to make it as real as possible.

A three-member team from Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Health and Sanitation, arriving with packets stuffed with a press release, background information, and press clippings, gave a presentation today on the country’s free health care initiative at the MLI Learning Collaborative Forum. Colleagues from Mali, Ethiopia, Senegal, Nepal and the United States took on identities as reporters from local and international press.

The forum, held for four days in Addis Ababa, features a number of presentations from country groups as well as field trips to see first-hand Ethiopia’s health initiatives. The mock press conference was designed to underscore the importance of communicating the work of Ministries to the media.

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November 30, 2010

'It's always good to think big'

John Donnelly

This is the second in a series of live-blogs from the Ministerial Leadership Initiative for Global Health's Learning Collaborative Forum in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

But what about being a leader in a Health Ministry? Tomes have been written about what makes a good leader and best-seller lists seem to always have at least one new release that talks about how to be a leader in business or politics. 

 

But what about being a leader in a Health Ministry?

 

 

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November 30, 2010

MLI live-blog from Addis Ababa

John Donnelly

John Donnelly will be live blogging this week from the Ministerial Leadership Initiative for Global Health's Learning Collaborative Forum in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The forum will take place over the next four days, ending Friday. This is the first post of the series.

MLI works in five countries – Ethiopia, Nepal, Mali, Senegal, and Sierra Leone – and among the forum’s highlights will be presentations from senior officials at all five Health Ministries about how efforts to promote leaders has yielded results.

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November 01, 2010

Sierra Leone’s President Koroma: 'Something had to be done'

John Donnelly

Some people scoffed at Sierra Leone’s plan to make health care free for all children under five, pregnant women and mothers who were breast-feeding. How could a country at the bottom of the world’s health indicators suddenly open the doors to all government health facilities and say there is no charge for service?

Now, six months after the start of free health care, Sierra Leone has proven it could do it. Read on for H. E. President Ernest Bai Koroma's insight to the initiative, one of his personal priorities for his country.

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October 19, 2010

Photo blog: "Sierra Leone really hit home"

John Donnelly

In this first of five segments, John Donnelly interviewed photographer Dominic Chavez about the images below. What follows are his perspectives on his two trips to Sierra Leone, including one which focused on the Ministry of Health and Sanitation’s efforts to roll out free health care for pregnant women, breast-feeding mothers, and children under the age of five.

 "These pictures are from two different visits. Sierra Leone really hit home in a lot of ways. Even though I’ve been documenting global health now for a little over a decade, I’m still always surprised how it always hits home, and I guess that’s why I am dedicated to it. But going to Sierra Leone opened my eyes again, and it really opened my eyes to the dangers that women face in trying to have a family. It meant witnessing the real hardships and the death of a newborn baby, as well as watching a nurse save the life of a newborn boy. It steals your breath. To me, it’s very haunting."

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