Using routine health statistics in the monitoring and evaluation of primary health care (PHC) activity in Sierra Leone and the Gambia

This paper intends to examine the extent to which the provision of Primary Health Care can be monitored using routine health statistics in Sierra Leone and the Gambia. The content of the paper covers a brief description of the PHC structure and the health information system developed to monitor the activities. The main thrust of the paper is the evaluation of the statistics collected between 1988 and 1991 to assess: the coverage of reporting; disease patterns using case episodes and output statistics based on children immunized and women receiving ante-natal care in each country separately. The concluding section of the paper addresses the possible strengths and weaknesses in the use of health statistics for the monitoring and evaluation of PHC in both countries based on the evidences presented

Structural Adjustment Programme : implications on the health of women and children in Sierra Leone

The persistence of the economic problems led the Sierra Leone government to adopt a more comprehensive set of reform measures under the supervision of the World Bank and the IMF in 1989. This paper intends looking at the implications of this programme (commonly called the structural adjustment programme-SAP) on the health of women and children. The paper will first highlight the trend observed for specific health indicators and then examine the potential effects of the programme on the health of the target population. Much of the information used in the preparation of the paper has been obtained from documents produced by the African Development Bank (ADB); the Economic Commission of Africa (ECA) and from relevant materials from various sections of the Department of health