Strengthening infection prevention and control during the COVID-19 pandemic: implementation of a decentralised mentorship model across 450 primary health facilities in Sierra Leone, 2021–2022

A decentralized mentorship model embedded in government structures can rapidly strengthen primary care IPC capacity while catalysing the policy and financing commitments essential for sustainability. The consistency of improvements across indicators supports this approach for similar low-resource settings. Controlled designs are needed to establish attribution and assess long-term impact.