• We provide continuous professional development for nurses, focusing on evidence-based care and competency in practical skills.
• We supported the hospital during the COVID-19 response in constructing the isolation unit and the associated Standard Operating Procedure, supporting emergency medical cover, and training in Infection Prevention & Control.
• We provide training in mentorship, leadership, ICT skills and the General Instructor Course to support nurses to share their skills with colleagues and students.
• We work with student nurses posted at ODCH to ensure that they receive practical experience in paediatric care.
• We are leading on refurbishing essential areas of the hospital.
• We are working with the teaching hospital complex to build specialty paediatric training so that Sierra Leone can one day train and qualify it’s own paediatricians.
• We have donated equipment to improve diagnostics, including X-ray, monitoring of vital signs, delivering oxygen, supporting breathing and enabling phototherapy.
• We set up and continue to deliver induction training to all new Doctors, nurses and students at the hospital, ensuring standards are maintained.
We supported ODCH in instigating and delivering ETAT+ (Emergency Triage and Treatment) training, equipping staff to safely manage emergency cases.
We supported the development of a Nursing Handbook for the induction of all nurses into ODCH. Welbodi continue to run mentoring and leadership with key staff.
• Rolling out the CRADLE Vital Signs Alert device and training (led by the Ministry of Health and Sanitation) to all government healthcare facilities in 8 of Sierra Leone's districts.
• Lead partner in Sierra Leone for King’s College London CRADLE 3 trial research which evaluated the introduction of a novel blood pressure device - the CRADLE Vital Signs Alert device.
• As part of the Sierra Leone CRADLE VSA Rollout, 1800 healthcare providers have been trained in the use of the device to help identify pregnant women at risk and over 2700 devices have been distributed to all government healthcare facilities.
• The CRADLE 3 research trial identified that in Sierra Leone, results showed a 60% reduction in maternal death and a 40% reduction in eclampsia / hysterectomy.
• Thanks to UK Aid Direct Rapid Response funding, we are supporting community Ministry of Health Outreach maternity services in response to falling antenatal care attendance during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Staff are supported with the appropriate Infection Prevention & Control and Personal Protective Equipment and additional CRADLE devices to deliver maternity care in the community.
• Supportive site visits and continuous communication with the central CRADLE team.
• Community health sensitisation activities to support key maternal health messages during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• 301 pregnant women were seen as part of the outreach activities in Western Area Urban district in the first month.
• As reported by one CRADLE Champion: "You want to do outreach but if you do not have everything in the midst of...corona[virus], you will not be able to do your work. Because of the supplies given, we can do it and we can do more."
• We work to strengthen the performance and interconnectedness of the 6 WHO health system building blocks.
• We provide high-quality, evidence-based technical assistance that focuses on national priorities and improving health worker performance and engagement.
• We strive to improve patient and population health outcomes, particularly among the poor, as well as ensuring efficiency and effectiveness of systems and processes in the facilities where we work.
• We have introduced a range of training and capacity building programmes for Doctors, Nurses and Midwives across tertiary and primary health care.
• Established Quality improvement groups in five PHUs and provided Training on QI Methodology for health staff and community stakeholders.
• QI projects completed at Ross Road Community Health Centre and Jenner Wright Children's’ Clinic where a TB Unit was constructed to separate TB patients from the under-5s clinic.
• At Children’s Hospital, a QI project led to the development of a Malaria Job Aid and subsequent reduction in mortality attributed to malaria from 38% to 25%.
• At the Women’s Hospital, QI methodology was applied to the development of a new Triage System which resulted in more urgent cases being seen more quickly.
• QI groups were an integral part of infection prevention and control, focusing on hand hygiene and waste management practices at ODCH and PCMH.
• Improving water supply and sanitation facilities at three hospitals
• Hospital
Installing a digital x-ray machine at ODCH and re-establishing the x-ray department
Upgrades at Jenner Wright clinic, including a Tuberculosis unit
• Upgrading Rokupa Hospital by constructing a mortuary, laundry area and reinstating the well
• Upgrading laundry and installing washer and dryer machines at ODCH
• Provision of a generator which enables continuous electricity supply in the event of loss of power at ODCH
• March 2014 marked the beginning of what was to become the most devastating epidemic in recent history. Sierra Leone was the worst affected country during the 2014 – 2015 Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak with more than 14,000 confirmed cases and nearly 4000 deaths. The EVD outbreak decimated the countries health infrastructure and served to highlight the severe challenges already faced; limited health workforces (in numbers and quality), ineffective supply chains and challenged management systems.
• Welbodi Partnership was well placed to respond effectively - we expanded our operations from our flagship partnership in Ola During Children’s Hospital to include Rokupa Government Hospital and Princess Christian Maternity Hospital. Within weeks, Infection Prevention Control (IPC) Teams were in place. An Infection Control Mentor from Welbodi Partnership was paired with a local Infection Control Focal Person in each facility to build capacity and create a sustainable staff-led patient safety programme. For two years, the IPC teams supported patient-safety committees, audited practice, contributed to city-wide and country-wide monitoring and evaluation, and completed training of trainers. In 2017 all the mentors withdrew and left in place a 14-person team of Infection Control Champions in each facility.
• Welbodi Partnership are not routinely an emergency response organisation but we made the commitment to remain in Sierra Leone throughout the outbreak. It was quickly apparent that it was essential for us to dramatically broaden our support to existing facilities and rapidly scale up to meet new challenges in order to help combat this deadly epidemic. It was an extremely challenging time in which we achieved many essential infrastructural developments and trained huge numbers of healthcare staff. Welbodi Partnership focuses our day-to-day efforts on strengthening the health system to reduce the impact of shock events when they occur.
• During the Ebola emergency response Welbodi
Partnership expanded its support to three large hospitals within the Eastern area of Freetown: Ola During Children’s hospital, Princess Christian Maternity Hospital & Rokupa Government Hospital.
• Training and mentoring of 1200 healthcare workers in infection prevention and control
• Support of essential screening at the point of entry for all facilities
• Comprehensive renovation of hospital water supplies, drainage and sanitation facilities at all site.
• Construction of a mortuary, laundry area and re-instillation of the a well at Rokupa
• Construction of a burn-pit incinerator to support safe disposal of hospital waste at PCMH and ODCH
• Provision of hand-washing facilities and associated supplies throughout all sites for the duration of the outbreak
• Provision of comprehensive personal protective equipment and waste disposal tools for healthcare workers at all sites
• Supported the formation of Tok for Pikin Welbodi, a community based child health advocacy organisation, which carried out extensive community sensitisation during the outbreak.
Keep up to date with our work
on social media and by signing up to our newsletter
.png)
Registered Charity Number 1125217
