Geneva, Switzerland, Sunday, May 17, 2026 – Sierra Leone’s Minister of Health, Dr. Austin Demby, has spotlighted the country’s landmark health governance reforms before African Health Ministers and global health partners on the sidelines of the 79th World Health Assembly (WHA79) in Geneva.
Speaking during a high-level panel discussion on sustained health financing, Dr. Demby outlined Sierra Leone’s concrete strides toward Universal Health Coverage and resilient health systems, as calls for reform of the global health architecture intensify amid efforts to streamline fragmented systems and strengthen international crisis response.
The Minister told delegates that in December 2025, Sierra Leone launched the National Health Compact in Tokyo, a unified governance framework operating on one plan, one budget, and one reporting structure, co-signed by every major development partner and jointly governed by the Ministries of Health and Finance.
“That is neither aspirational nor a framework on paper. It is the system we now govern from,” Dr. Demby said.
Dr. Demby highlighted the government’s investment in digital health innovation, including a real-time pregnancy tracking system he credited with driving a 70 percent reduction in maternal deaths. He added that on March 1, 2026, President Bio launched the 300 Days of Activism for Triple Zeros , a presidential accountability campaign tracking every maternal death, every child death, and every unvaccinated child in real time, district by district.
“At Day 75, maternal deaths are running 60 percent below the 2025 baseline. That is acceleration with a countdown attached,” he said.
On domestic financing, the Minister outlined a multi-pronged strategy anchored in the Abuja Declaration’s 15 percent health budget commitment. Sierra Leone, he said, is pursuing debt swaps for health investment, building health tax revenues from tobacco, alcohol, sugar-sweetened beverages, and high-fat, salt and sugar-laden packaged foods, while constructing the Sierra Leone Social Health Insurance scheme, SLeSHI, to ensure domestic financing remains equitable and sustainable.
Concluding his remarks, Dr. Demby struck a note of candour, urging partner nations to draw lessons rather than copy models.
“We can tell you what required political will, where partners pushed back, and what the accountability system looks like when it is actually running. It is not perfect. But the traction is real, and we are willing to share both the progress and the problems with any delegation in this room,” he said.
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