Landsberg am Lech, 11 October 2022 - The government of Sierra Leone has officially invited Mercy Ships to start operating in the late summer of 2023. Global Mercy to carry out a mission in the African country. The mission is a deepening of the long-standing cooperation between Sierra Leone and Mercy Ships. During an audience with Julius Maada Bio, the President of Sierra Leone, Mercy Ships CEO Gert van de Weerdhof and Maada Bio took the necessary decisions to finalise the deployment of the largest civilian hospital ship.

Gert van de Weerdhof, CEO of Mercy Ships, praises the partnership with Sierra Leone: "We are pleased to confirm that we are planning to return to Sierra Leone. This will be our sixth mission in the country. Now we can move into an important phase of assessing existing needs and determining how we can best help to bring hope and healing to those in urgent need of surgical assistance."

When the Global Mercy docks in the harbour of the host country, the crew will provide free surgical care to thousands of people and train local healthcare staff. All of Mercy Ships' services are free of charge thanks to donations from all over the world and the work of the volunteers on board.

So far, Mercy Ships has been deployed in Sierra Leone in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2011.

Sierra Leone is a rapidly growing country with an estimated population of 8.6 million. Sierra Leone ranks 182nd out of 189 countries and territories in the Human Development Index, which Mercy Ships uses to assess the need for aid. The average age in Sierra Leone is 18.5 years, which is disproportionately young and results in a very young working population. Life expectancy is 55.5 years.

The Global Mercy is expected to travel to Dakar in Senegal for several months in early 2023 before coming to Sierra Leone.