Liberia News

Ever since the closure of the university due to the Ebola outbreak, Tony Harrison, sociology student at the University of Liberia, has been trying to help stop the spread of the Ebola virus in his country. He joined the team of active case finders to go from house to house to find out if sick people are being treated.

 Tony B. Harrison is a sociology student at the University of Liberia. Ever since the closure of his university many months ago due to the Ebola outbreak, Tony has been trying to find opportunities to help stop the spread of the Ebola virus in his country.

When Dr Peter Clements arrived in Lofa County, Liberia eight weeks ago, from the WHO country office in Monrovia, 20-30 patients were arriving at the MSF hospital with Ebola-like symptoms every day. People living in the community were afraid, civil unrest was simmering, and an ambulance and health workers were being targeted. read the full story

Monrovia, 9 April 2015 - World Health Day was celebrated in Liberia under the theme ‘Food Safety’, keeping food safe from the farm to the plate. A week-long awareness and sensitization campaign on food safety was conducted in market places, schools and various communities. These activities were targeted at creating awareness and educating the public on the importance of keeping food safe and the dangers of consuming unsafe food.

“When the outbreak first started in March and we heard about this deadly virus Ebola, I was in Kakata,” says Austin S. Jallah, a student nurse of Kakata University, in Margibi County, Liberia.

“People really doubted the fact that Ebola was real, until we heard about the first case in the hospital. I wasn’t one of those who doubted though. Because I am a student nurse, I had read about the Ebola virus before, how it was first discovered back in 1976.”

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Around 150 local construction workers have been working 3 shifts a day to build an Ebola treatment centre at the former Ministry of Defence compound on the outskirts of Monrovia.

The 6 large tents, that can house 50 patients each, are now in place and the centre is set to open at the end of October. This will add at least 200 additional beds for Ebola patients in Liberia.

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Today, 9 May 2015, WHO declares Liberia free of Ebola virus transmission. Forty-two days have passed since the last laboratory-confirmed case was buried on 28 March. The outbreak of Ebola virus disease in Liberia is over.
 
Interruption of transmission is a monumental achievement for a country that reported the highest number of deaths in the largest, longest, and most complex outbreak since Ebola first emerged in 1976. At the peak of transmission, which occurred during August and September 2014, the country was reporting from 300 to 400 new cases every week.
 

Joint statement from the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Liberia; the Centers for Disease Control (CDC); the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO).

Monrovia, 8 May 2015 – A week-long campaign to vaccinate more than 600,000 children against polio and measles kicks off today in Liberia, led by the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, and supported by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO).

Monrovia, 28 April, 2015 - The Ministry of Health (MOH) / National Malaria Control Program in collaboration with its partners on Saturday, 25th April, 2015 commemorated World Malaria Day 2015 and launched the distribution of 2.8 Million Insecticide Treated Mosquito Nets. The commemorative event was held in Monrovia at the City Hall.

Monrovia, 26th May, 2015: Liberia successfully concluded a week long integrated measles vaccination campaign for under fives in all the 15 counties. This campaign executed from May 8-14 was launched at the Duport Road Health Center in Monrovia by the Vice President of the Republic of Liberia, His Excellency Joseph Nyuma Boakai.

Today 11th May, 2015 the Government of the Republic of Liberia hosted a celebration marking the end of Ebola outbreak in Liberia at a colorful event held at the Centennial Memorial Pavilion, Monrovia. At this event the WHO Country Representative presented the Ebola Free declaration to the Head of Incident Management Team, who in turn presented it to the Minister of Health and Her Excellency the President of Liberia.