Health Alert in collaboration with WASH Net on Thursday 5th June 2025 established a Parliamentary Caucus for Subsumable Immunization Financing in country.
The objective of the meeting was to discuss the Terms of Reference (TOR) for the effective functioning of the Caucus. This Parliamentary Caucus will serve as a platform of Champions to Advocate for increased Domestic Financing for Health and Immunization in Sierra Leone and the project is funded by GAVI through GHAI.
Giving an opening remark at the ceremony, the Chairman of the program Hon Tamba Johnny underscored the importance of the caucus. He used the opportunity to provide a comprehensive background of the project. He said there is a need for Civil Society to lobbying group to advocate for increase resource mobilization for sustainable immunization financing. He said as a country they cannot relieve external partners such as GAVI for sustainability and therefore called increase in budget from government annually in order to meet the objectives
He noted that other countries have similar challenges and there is a need to empower CSO to continue to advocate for more resources for primary immunization.
In his statement the Chairperson on Finance, Hon Momoh Bockarie from Kenema District said as a government they have lacks behind in resource mobilization for primary health financing. He said other countries are far ahead of Siera Leone, citing out the 2025 budget as a major gap. He said they should prioritize health by exhibiting some amount of aggressiveness to ensure they are improving the health sector.
He said parliament should be able to complement each other’s effort and their doors are always open. He called on the need to have a standby fund for any disease outbreak, citing the situation around the responses of Ebola, COVID19 and M Pox.
In her keynote address Hon Wuyata Songa said the establishment of the caucus “Health Alert & WASH-Net Establishes Caucus & Health Immunization Financing” is of great significant. She disclosed that based on GAVi reports Sierra Leone is leading in immunization across Africa. She said as members of parliament, their role is to advocate citing out a resolution for domestic resource she described herself and the entire caucus community as people who are pushful. She called for trust funds to tackle emergencies. A drafted TOR was presented and validated for the full operation of the caucus.
