Sierra Leone has one of the world’s worst maternal mortality rates. One in 17 women die during childbirth, a devastation for families and communities. While many of these deaths are preventable, access to safe deliveries remains a barrier to communities in humanitarian settings.

Through partnership with MSF, our goals are to identify and analyse the enablers and barriers to effective basic emergency obstetric and newborn care (BEmONC) in MSF’s reproductive health programs over the last 10 years. Our team will implement and evaluate co-developed programs to provide the evidence to improve the quality, coverage, and uptake of BEmONC. Additional training for local doctors and nurses on safe delivery and referrals will strengthen health care support in Sierra Leone. This will ultimately produce long-lasting change to prevent high rates of maternal deaths.

If successful, evidence from the implementation of BEmONC in a Sierra Leone district will be leveraged in partnership with government to expand this program nationally and will also inform MSF’s international maternal health programs.