Liberia News

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.

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.

Update from the field
4 April 2016

WHO and Ministry of Health teams in Liberia and Guinea are investigating the origins of transmission in Liberia’s latest flare-up after learning that a woman who died from Ebola in Liberia last week had recently travelled from Guinea with her three young children.

Monrovia, 28 January 2016 - During a high-level meeting held on 18-20 January, the Ministry of Health of Liberia moved a step forward with plans for the establishment of a national public health institute (PHI). This is one of the priority components of the Liberia plan for building a resilient health system 2015-2021.

The road to the 200-bed Redemption Hospital in Monrovia is unpaved. During the rainy season it is full of potholes and mud. Patients may have difficulty arriving, but they come, because Redemption is the only public facility in the area and serves some 90 000 people. In August 2014, the hospital was at the center of the Ebola epidemic in Liberia. It quickly became overwhelmed and, for a time, had to close its inpatient department.

Over a month has passed since Ebola transmission ceased in Liberia. This hard-fought achievement is still being celebrated across the country, where nearly 11,000 people became infected with the virus and 4,800 died. Liberia is still urging communities not to let their guard down until Ebola is gone from the region. They are working closely with WHO and other partners to keep Ebola from re-emerging.

Monrovia, 20 May 2016 - The Ministry of Health Liberia with support from the World Health Organization, Development and Implementing Partners initiated a comprehensive training program for its County Health Teams and Health facility Managers as part of the health system strengthening plan. This is aimed at building the capacity at county level to implement integrated and people-centered operational plans for better health care service delivery.

WHO statement 
1 April 2016

Lab results confirm a new case of Ebola virus disease in Liberia — a 30-year-old woman who died yesterday afternoon while being transferred to a hospital in the capital Monrovia.

Liberia’s Ministry of Health, WHO and partner agencies immediately sent a team to the community outside Monrovia where the woman lived and the clinic where she was being treated to begin case investigation and identification of individuals who may have been in contact with her.