UNICEF Hands Over £32,000 Equipment In Makeni

By Lemuella Tarawallie

UNICEF Sierra Leone, with funding support from the United Kingdom Government through the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), on Monday 28 September 2026 handed over medical equipment valued at approximately £32,000 to the Ministry of Health to support the restoration and reequipping of the Special Care Baby Unit at Makeni Government Hospital.

The symbolic handover ceremony was held at the Directorate of Reproductive and Child Health at the Medical Stores Compound at New England Ville in Freetown.

The equipment are intended to strengthen the capacity of the Makeni Special Care Baby Unit to provide essential care and monitoring for premature, low birth weight and critically ill newborns requiring specialised medical attention.

The items handed over include one radiant newborn warmer system, one portable patient monitor, one five litre per minute oxygen concentrator and spare kit, as well as eight hospital baby cots with bassinets.

The consignment also included four infant weighing scales, five neonatal stethoscopes, 1,000 neonatal nasal oxygen prongs and 1,000 sterile disposable suction tubes.

During the symbolic handing over the UNICEF Country Representative, Mariko Kagoshima, said UNICEF was pleased to support the restoration and equipping of the Makeni Special Care Baby Unit.

She said the equipment would help health workers provide safer and higher quality care to premature, low birth weight and critically ill newborns who require specialised support to survive. She noted that “the intervention goes beyond providing equipment”, as it was aimed at restoring access to essential newborn care for families in Makeni and the wider northern region.

Kagoshima expressed UNICEF’s appreciation to the United Kingdom Government, through the FCDO, for its financial support, noting that the contribution had made the handover possible and built on the UK’s support to newborn health in Sierra Leone.

The Foreign, Commonwealth Development Office FCDO Development Director, Alexandra Maclean, said the UK was pleased to support the ceremony as part of its long term commitment to Sierra Leone’s health system. She said Makeni would become the 17th Special Care Baby Unit supported under the programme, which also provides training for health workers.

According to Maclean, “investments in infrastructure, equipment, supplies and training have contributed to improved survival of premature babies, while the restored unit is expected to expand access to specialised newborn care in Makeni and surrounding communities”.

Deputy Minister of Health 1, Dr Charles Senesie, described the donation as timely, especially after the fire that destroyed the Special Care Baby Unit at the Makeni Government Hospital. He said the Government welcomed UNICEF’s continued support to strengthen health infrastructure, equipment and care for vulnerable newborns.

The Director of Reproductive and Child Health, Dr Francis L. Moses while giving brief overview  of the Makeni Special Care Baby Units ( SCBU), said the Directorate was supporting districts nationwide to provide quality maternal and child health services.

He said, “a fire at Makeni Government Hospital destroyed the Special Care Baby Unit, prompting an assessment by the Ministry and UNICEF that identified equipment needed to restore the unit”.

Dr Moses stated that some of the equipment were unavailable or costly locally, making UNICEF and UK Government support vital. He added that Special Care Baby Units had improved survival among premature babies, with some recording rates of up to 90 percent.

Meanwhile, the paediatrician in charge of the Makeni Government Hospital Special Care Baby Unit said the unit recorded no newborn deaths during the week under review and that the new equipment would further strengthen specialised newborn care.