Just before Easter, Queen Mary University of London welcomed a delegation from Sierra Leone, led by the country’s Deputy Health Minister, Dr Jalikatu Mustapha. The visit's aim was to explore potential new partnerships and collaborations in teaching and research with a focus on reducing salt intake and hypertension.
The group comprising academics and government officials gave insight into the current state of the Sierra Leonean health system, including successes such as the establishment of non-communicable disease (NCD) care in health facilities across the country and remarkable improvements in child and maternal health.
Major transformation in healthcare
Since the election of President Julius Maada Bio in 2018, the west African country has undergone a major transformation in crucial areas of healthcare, relying heavily on digitisation and the use of data to respond to everyday health challenges like climate change and viral diseases.
Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) still pose major health threat
However, like in many low-income countries, Sierra Leoneans’ life expectancy rate is still heavily impacted by one leading risk-factor for mortality: raised blood pressure, often caused by high levels of salt intake, which lead to cardiovascular diseases (CVD), one of the leading causes of death in the country.
With over 20 years of expertise, the Research and Action on Salt and Obesity Unit within Queen Mary’s Centre for Public Health and Policy (CPHP) has been instrumental in the UK’s salt reduction strategy which successfully reduced salt intake between 2000-2014, likely avoiding 33,660 premature strokes in England. The UK strategy has since been applied to other countries such as China and Malaysia where the Unit carries out various research and public health programmes to reduce salt intake.
Professor of Public Health Oyinlola Oyebode, Centre for Public Health and Policy Lead at the Wolfson Institute of Population Health, said:
“Following Queen Mary’s Research & Action on Salt & Obesity unit’s successful work on salt reduction policies in China, Malaysia, and Morocco, we are excited to be extending our focus to Sierra Leone. Building on CPHP’s expertise in developing, implementing, and evaluating evidence-based public health policies internationally, we will be focusing on understanding salt consumption behaviours, with the aim of supporting the development of a national Alliance and delivering targeted interventions.”
The new project will be delivered in partnership with James Russell, Associate Professor and cardiologist, Dean of the Faculty of Clinical Sciences and Dentistry at University of Sierra Leone and Tahir Bockarie, Njala University, Sierra Leone.
Dr Jalikatu Mustapha, Deputy Health Minister of Sierra Leone, said:
“Transforming and improving our healthcare system is not an aspiration – it’s a moral and professional obligation. "Taking the bold step to recruit young technocrats into political leadership roles is part of our President's plan to accelerate his ‘Big Five Agenda’. With the goal to provide universal health coverage to all citizens by 2030, we are now directing our focus from primary healthcare to preventive care. Given the high numbers of cardiovascular diseases we are facing, it cannot be business as usual – we are therefore truly excited to embark on this innovative, forward-thinking collaboration with Queen Mary University of London.”
Professor Sir Mark Caulfield, Vice Principal for Health for Queen Mary’s Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, said:
“Queen Mary is very happy to explore new ways of working together with local universities and the Health Ministry of Sierra Leone and build collaborations. The pilot project on salt and hypertension in Sierra Leone marks an important first step that will be crucial in preventing premature deaths going forward.”
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