Freetown, Sierra Leone, 12 October 2026 – The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) today began a five-day series of engagements with the Government of Sierra Leone aimed at supporting Government efforts to strengthen the health sector.
The discussions are being held under the Transforming Health Financing in Africa initiative, through which ECA's analysis and diagnostics seek to strengthen Member States' health sector reforms, with the long-term aim of securing lasting, home-grown investment in health.
The discussions this week are among the first practical steps in delivering on the Declaration on Sustainable Health Financing in Africa, known as the Tangier Declaration. African ministers adopted the Declaration on 1 April 2026 at the fifty-eighth session of the Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development. It commits Member States to mobilize more domestic resources for health, to strengthen collaboration between the ministries responsible for finance, planning and health, and to improve access to health care while reducing the current out-of-pocket burden on citizens. It also calls on ECA and its partners to give Member States sustained technical and analytical support.
“The Tangier Declaration set out a shared ambition for Africa to finance its own health priorities sustainably. This engagement is about turning that ambition into practical work with Sierra Leone, building on the reforms the Government has already put in motion,” said Aboubakri Diaw, Chief of Staff, ECA.
Sierra Leone is already well advanced on that path. The Government is developing its National Health Sector Strategic Plan 2026–2030, putting the Sierra Leone Social Health Insurance scheme (SLeSHI) into operation and advancing the proposed Sierra Leone Agency for Universal Health Coverage (SLAUHC). ECA's support is designed to underpin these nationally led reforms by providing the analysis and technical expertise the Government needs to sustain them, so that families can get the care they need and are less vulnerable to financial hardship.
During the week, the ECA team will hold high-level meetings across agreed sectors. It will also take part in technical sessions with the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Finance, Statistics Sierra Leone and the National Social Security and Insurance Trust (NASSIT).
“Our collaboration will turn the technical work into a practical programme, based on diagnostics and evidence-based analysis that reflect Sierra Leone's own realities and priorities,” added Mr. Diaw.
The Transforming Health Financing in Africa initiative is supporting a number of countries, including Togo, Sierra Leone, Ethiopia, Botswana and Guinea, in key areas of intervention to build on existing health sector commitments and to change the narrative from health as an expenditure to health as an investment.
Issued by:
Communications Section
Economic Commission for Africa
PO Box 3001
Addis Ababa
Ethiopia
Tel: +251 11 551 5826
E-mail: eca-info@un.org