Freetown, Nov. 8 2006 (MOHS) - The Chief Executive of Sight Savers International, Madam Caroline Harper has informed the Acting Minister of Health and Sanitation, Ibrahim Sesay that her organisation's partnership with the Ministry of Health and Sanitation has been very resourceful.

The Chief Executive said these words during a courtesy call on the Acting Minister of Health and Sanitation at his Youyi Building Office in Freetown.

Evaluating the Ministry's Onchocerciasis programme, Madam Harper who is visiting Sierra Leone for the first time said she was impressed with the performance recorded so far, and expressed her desire to meet with some patient suffering from River Blindness in major onchocerciasis operational areas in the provinces.

She informed the Acting Minister Mr. Ibrahim Sesay and senior officials of the ministry that she would be visiting the Bo and Moyamba districts in the South, and Kenema in the East to explore other areas of assistance.

Madam Harper lauded Sight Savers International Cataract programme in Sierra Leone and its intervention on capacity building for nurses whilst hoping that the relationship between Sight Savers and the Health Ministry would continue to grow for posterity.

The Acting Minister of Health and Sanitation, Mr. Ibrahim Sesay noted that Sight Savers International has been doing extremely well both in eye care services and other health related cases and hoped that the trend would continue.

He told the Chief Executive and team that people between the ages 20 and 25 are also victims of River Blindness, adding that it has been discovered that the blindness rate in the Moyamba district is more serioius than in the Northern Region's own Onchocerciasis prone areas.

The acting Minister deliberated on other pertient health issues with the team and reiterated government's continued commitment to provide its citizens accessible and affordable health care delivery services countrywide.