 In 2012, on-the-job training was provided to 259 health workers in Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care and pre-service training was provided to 702 auxiliary nurses (UNICEF Sierra Leone, 2012);  48 national officers were trained who in turn trained 1,200 district service providers on Immunization in Practice in response to a cold chain assessment completed in 2010 (UNICEF Sierra Leone, 2012);  1,500 teachers have been trained to facilitate classes on Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH), prevention of HIV and AIDS, sexually transmitted infections and teenage pregnancy in schools  A total of 235 health workers and implementing partners and 3,666 community health workers were trained on the identification for severe acute malnutrition in children and Integrated Management of Acute Malnutrition protocol and treatment guidelines. An on-the-job training strategy was developed to allow staff in each facility to be trained and ensure sustainability of the training, especially to address high staff turnover in the sector. 1,086 members of mothers’ support groups have been trained on community-based support for infant and young child feeding in 5 districts and a total of 73 implementing partners’ staff were trained on infant and young child feeding in 2012. 254. 253.3 The recruitment of personnel and the improvement of their working conditions so as to attract and retain qualified staff, especially in under-serviced areas. For example, the salaries of staff in health system were increased alongside the introduction of the Free Health Care Initiative (FHCI) because of the anticipated increased work load. 253.4 Improved procurement, provision and distribution of essential drugs for the management of childhood illnesses at facility and community level. By 2012 essential medical supplies for one million children under the age of 5 years and 230,000 pregnant and lactating women were procured as part of the FHCI. The GoSL is, with the support of its development partner, developing a National Pharmaceutical Procurement Unit to strengthen the Procurement and Supply Management system for health supplies and an act with the same name has recently been passed to support this process. In addition, staff have been trained in Logistics Management Information Systems. The impact has been significant as the number of hospitals reporting no stockouts of the essential drugs increased to 10 in 2012 and the number of PHUs reporting no stock-out of essential drugs was 48 in 2012. 253.5 Strengthened health system monitoring and response systems. With the support of its partner, the MoHS introduced decentralised monitoring in four districts. A process is underway to develop and implement Rapid SMS and mobile health surveillance in health facilities as well as more user-friendly modified consolidated data collection tools that may be used at health facilities for all health services. In addition, with the support of UNFP, health staff have been trained on data collection and management and in computers have been purchased to facilitate centralised reporting. Between 2009 and 2010, the total workforce in the public health sector increased from 7,164 to 8,125, representing a 13.4 percent increase. Notwithstanding this, 7. Health and Welfare  69