Hi my name is Ann-Patricia Amara. I am a UK trained midwife. I am a Sierra Leonean living in the UK. I have looked into the health system in Sierra Leone, and decided to contribute to the health and well being of pregnant women, and their unborn babies, up to postnatal period.

Although, they introduced the ‘Free Healthcare Initiative’ in the country, not every woman benefits from this initiative, for example; underserved communities, lack of awareness of some complex pregnancy related complications, how to educate and increase the awareness of safety in pregnancy, and childbirth. Some women have limited knowledge to information, proximity to health care facilities. Hesitancy to attend antenatal clinics, lack of trained staff, poor infrastructure and logistics which can delay the provision of vital medical services. Hence I have met with community elders in the Waterloo rural district, where I have acquired nearly to an acre of land for the construction of the proposed project. The health centre will be located in the Paloko community which will served the local as well as the suburbs within the Waterloo axis.

The land has already been cleared for work to commence.

Purchase of building material is ongoing.

The breakdown of current expenditure is as follows: cost of land in

leones 35 million equivalent to about £1200. Drawing up the plan cost £500. Fencing of the land cost up to £5000. The purchase for sand, granite and other material is already running to one hundreds and fifty million in leones.

The payment for workmanship to start digging up the foundation is about 30 million in leones. The funding of the project still needs 127. 355 million leones.

The completion of the unit if sponsored, is aimed to be completed by the end of 2026. The second phase will include purchasing of medical equipments, employing trained midwives, depending on how much donations will be received towards this project.

Third phase: training of community healthcare workers, midwives to ensure evidence-based care is provided.