01 March 2017
60-70% of all Connaught Hospital admissions relate to infectious diseases including malaria, TB, typhoid, bacterial pneumonias, HIV, viral hepatitis, and other infections. See how the King’s Sierra Leone Partnership and Connaught Hospital staff are working together to reduce the rate of infection among patients, health workers, and the community as a whole.
As we approach three years since the first confirmed case of Ebola in the 2014-2015 West African outbreak, the King’s Sierra Leone Partnership has produced a series of films that look at the team’s work at Connaught Hospital in Sierra Leone.
King’s College London and King’s Health Partners have been operating a partnership with key Sierra Leonean institutions since 2011, with an in-country presence since 2013. Connaught Hospital is Sierra Leone’s principal adult referral hospital and forms a key part of the country’s new teaching hospital complex.
The King’s Sierra Leone Partnership played a key role during the Ebola outbreak, supporting partners to treat over 10% of all confirmed cases in the country and in shaping the UK’s response. Following the outbreak, the team supported the refurbishment of the former Ebola Isolation unit into a modern A&E unit complete with a functioning triage system.
As Sierra Leone moves on from Ebola, the team have now returned to their broader work of strengthening the healthcare system, supporting Connaught Hospital and the College of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences to solidify their futures as key health institutions for Sierra Leone.
Each day, approximately 3,800 people pass through Connaught Hospital’s main gate and more than 24,000 people access care each year. With so many people, it’s important that patients are triaged quickly and correctly. Watch this film to see how the King’s Sierra Leone Partnership works with Connaught Hospital staff to develop a functioning triage system that empowers nurses and improves patient outcomes.
See more about the project here.