Members from various civil society organizations in the country have called on the government to strongly consider strengthening the monitoring and evaluation of the free healthcare activities across the country in order to ensure the successful implementation of the free health care initiative (FHCI).

The clarion call was made at the end of a two-day high level civil society advocacy and consultative conference on "improving maternal and child health in post MDGs 2015" organised by Health For All Coalition (HFAC) at the Hill Valley Hotel in Freetown.

Reading out a position statement on behalf of the participants, HFAC Executive Director, Charles Mambu, stated that while they recognised the progress made by the government in the health sector, much remains to be done to accelerate progress towards targets set in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Abuja Declaration and ICPD Plan of Action, among others, which are currently under review and set to expire in 2014 and 2015 respectively.

He highlighted the non-realization of government's commitment to the Abuja Declaration of 15% budget allocation to health; untimely disbursement of funds for programme implementations; misappropriation and misuse of funds, materials and equipment; weak financial management system; poor remuneration of health practitioners; and absence of a legal framework and policy supporting maternal deaths reviews as some of the challenges facing the sector.

"There is no legislation yet on the free healthcare initiative coupled with weak drug supply chain management system at district level in responding to stock out as well as weak referral system," he stated.

According to Mambu, participants at the conference recommended as follows: government accelerates its effort to achieving 15% of the Abuja Declaration commitment by 2015, including 1% for family planning; ensures timely disbursement and full transfer of funds to programmes and councils; improves quality of reporting and record keeping systems; accelerates the development of a legislation on free healthcare; strengthens distribution management of drugs and medical supplies from district level to PHUs; and the deployment of more health workers in remote communities with attractive remote allowances. The HFAC executive director called on international development partners to provide the necessary support and make readily available resources for capacity building, institutional strengthening and organizational effectiveness in the areas of accountability, monitoring and evaluation.

On behalf of his colleagues, Mambu assured that they will deepen their engagement with the government by fostering an advocacy approach that promotes dialogue, frank communication and collaboration geared towards attaining solution-based results, effectiveness and accountability.