Mr. Bio directed state hospitals to care for victims of rape and sexual abuse free of charge.

Outrage has mounted in recent weeks over the brutal rape last year of the 5-year-old girl. The case was never prosecuted, drawing attention to the lingering sense of impunity around sexual violence. The girl was paralyzed from the waist down after her spine was crushed when she was raped, Reuters reported, and her 28-year-old uncle was suspected of the assault.

Civil society groups have called on the government to act in the wake of reports that cases of sexual and gender-based violence have increased by nearly 10 percent each year since 2015. In 2017, more than 12,000 such cases were reported, according to police data.

Many cases are never reported, making the actual figure much higher, activists said. The president’s wife, Fatima Bio, has also been an active campaigner to stop the violence.

Almost half of Sierra Leone’s women face sexual or physical violence during their lifetime, and 90 percent of women aged 15 to 49 have been victims of genital cutting, according to United Nations data.

Sexual violence against women and girls was widespread during the country’s decade-long civil war, which ended in 2002. Victims testified during international trials about the brutality of rebels, who used mutilation and rape against the civilian population. One of the hallmarks of the conflict were “bush wives” — women and girls forced into sexual slavery by rebels.