Initiative area “Health, pandemics and One Health” Strengthening the healthcare system and preventing infections

On behalf of the BMZ, KfW Development Bank is funding projects that aim to prevent and stop the spread of HIV infections. A further goal is to improve the status of women in society in order to prevent gender-based violence – including female genital mutilation – and enable rights-based family planning.

In response to the 2014/15 Ebola crisis, Germany expanded its support to include preventing epidemics and strengthening the healthcare system. Among other things, German development cooperation is helping to implement an early warning system to identify outbreaks at an early stage and better protect the population against the spread of diseases. There are now around 400 community watch groups collaborating to prevent epidemics, and around 350 clinics offering basic medical care.

Sierra Leone benefited from its experiences with Ebola when it came to tackling the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020: the government acted swiftly, implementing extensive measures to prevent the virus from spreading.