HIV and TB Overview: Sierra Leone

Strategic focus

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), with support from the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), is a key player in the global HIV efforts, providing leadership and technical assistance to the Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MOHS) and partners. Together, they implement comprehensive government-led HIV programs to reach the National 98-98-98 target to end HIV as a public health threat by 2030. CDC also supports tuberculosis (TB) services, data and surveillance, laboratory and workforce capacity, and prevention and treatment.

Read more about CDC's most recent key activities and accomplishments below.

Building public health capacity

• Reached all CDC-supported districts and 660 healthcare facilities in Sierra Leone through Project ECHO (Extension for Community Health Outcomes) to train healthcare workers using case-based examples and peer-to-peer learning.
• Established a district-level clinical mentorship program with Sierra Leone’s National HIV/AIDS Control Programme (NACP) and trained teams of clinical mentors in the seven supported districts.
• Supported the use of data for decision-making through the deployment of a national integrated and interactive wall-board application for real-time data visualization. The wall-board is being linked to the National District Health Information Software.

Strengthening laboratory systems and networks

• Provided expertise to the Government of Sierra Leone on HIV viral load testing, routine molecular diagnostics, HIV proficiency testing, and data systems and monitoring.

• Supported the renovation and functionality of two molecular laboratories at Ola Durin Children's Hospital in the Western Area Urban and Makeni Regional Hospital laboratory in the Bombali district. With a capacity of over 100,000 samples annually, the two laboratories now serve as the country’s molecular labs for HIV viral load (VL) and early infant diagnosis testing.

• Assisted the development of a quality management system within the two HIV reference labs as an essential step towards international accreditation.

HIV prevention and treatment

• Implemented a household-based Population-based HIV Impact Assessment (PHIA) survey among people aged 15 years and older to estimate the subnational prevalence of suppressed HIV VL, a key indicator of effective HIV treatment, in Sierra Leone.
• Made significant strides in HIV treatment in Sierra Leone in FY2024 by providing HIV testing services to 116,991 individuals, of which approximately 8,099 (6.9 percent) were HIV positive. Of these individuals, approximately 7,775 (96 percent) were linked to antiretroviral therapy (ART). The total number of PLHIV receiving ART treatment at CDC-supported facilities was 24,049.
• Expanded prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) services to 45 health facilities in three additional districts in 2024. Within the same period, 32,418 pregnant women were tested, and 1,239 (97.3 percent of mothers testing positive) were linked to ART. Among children, 12,341 were tested for HIV, and 214 who tested positive were linked to ART.
• Prioritized the decentralization of pediatric ART and established adolescent-friendly services in several districts and facilities in Sierra Leone.

Tuberculosis prevention and treatment

• Helped establish a TB/HIV working group under the leadership of the MOHS Directorate of Disease Prevention and Control in 2024.
• Conducted a joint assessment of TB/HIV services with the National TB Program and the NACP in 2024, which expanded TB services in ART centers, improved access to HIV testing services for people diagnosed with TB and provided TB treatment for PLHIV.

By the numbers

HIV

TB

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