Success Stories

The West African Ebola outbreak of 2014, infected over 28,600 people in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia and killed 11,300. In response, USAID led a U.S. whole-of-government effort to contain the disease and reduced the number of Ebola cases to zero. Working in partnership with the host governments and international donors, USAID implemented a robust set of recovery and development programs designed in four pillars to address the second order impacts and ensure West Africa and other nations in the region are prepared to effectively prevent, detect, and respond to future outbreaks.

With support from the U.S. President's Malaria Initiative (PMI) activity managed by USAID, the government of Sierra Leone is increasing the competency of nurses and other health service providers to reduce malaria prevalence in the country.

The United States Government, through the COVAX Facility, has boosted the ongoing COVID-19 vaccination drive in Sierra Leone, with a donation of 113,490 doses of the Pfizer vaccines. 

On Thursday, October 10, 2019, the Minister of Health and Sanitation of Sierra Leone, Professor Alpha T. Wurie along with U.S. Ambassador to Sierra Leone, Marie E. Brewer participated in the official signing ceremony and public hand over of the USAID funded Impact Malaria project.

With 20 years of development experience, Ms. Kendra Schoenholz is the Mission Director for USAID/Guinea and Sierra Leone.  Before coming to Guinea, Ms. Schoenholz studied at the National War College, earning a Master's degree in national security strategy.  In her prior overseas assignment, Ms. Schoenholz served as the Deputy Mission Director in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. 

Tonkolili district, located in northern Sierra Leone, is one of the hardest hit by child stunting due to high levels of food insecurity and malnutrition. Limited access to fresh fish and other food crops is a major factor leading to nutritional deficiency.

Wanday Bangura’s stall in a bustling market in the Bombali district of northern Sierra Leone is full of shoes, jewelry, scarves and other products displayed for sale. Her small enterprise is flourishing.