MOH, Partners Conclude Five-day Training On “Mobilizing Communities for Reproductive Health and Family Planning”

(April 29, 2022, Paynesville City, Liberia)—A five-day long regional training on communities’ mobilization for reproductive health and family planning has come to end at the Kendeja Hotel, Paynesville City, outskirt of Monrovia.

The training, which started today, April 25 -29,2022, was organized by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through Breakthrough Action-Liberia. It trooped participants from several countries around the world, as African participants were in their numbers. Liberia, Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Malawi, USA, etc are countries participants were selected from.

Firmly grounded in proven practices, Breakthrough ACTION has been working in partnership with the Liberian government through the Ministry of Health, civil society, and communities in twelve counties across Liberia to implement creative and sustainable SBC programming, nurture SBC champions, mainstream new techniques and technologies, and advocate strategic and sustained investment in SBC.

“To the facilitators, thanks for selecting and willing to come to Liberia. Now, to our participants, thanks for accepting the training. And to the Breakthrough ACTION team, it’s actually exciting: we look forward to building on this, especially with the government of Liberia”, Dr. Saratu Olabode-Ojo, Chief of Party, Breakthrough Action-Liberia, expressed.

However, Hon. Joyce D Sherman, Assistant Minister for Preventive Services at the Ministry of Health, has lauded USAID and Breakthrough ACTION for their continuous interventions and at the same time called on participants to make maximal use of what were taught to transform their respective countries’ health sectors for the good of the locals.

“As you have gotten this knowledge, please use it to help transformed the communities in your respective locals. We want to thanks Breakthrough Actions for the initiative”, Minister Sherman Lauds.  

The five-day training exercise focused on strengthening participant’s capacities to carry out Community Mobilization for Reproductive Health and family planning, using the adapted Community Action Cycle (CAC).

Wilson Gaye, Co-Facilitator and Employee of the Ministry of Health, said he expects trainees to apply knowledge gained from the training, especially in the scope of social and behaviour change communication (SBCC); social and behavior change (SBC); Community Mobilization (CM) and how they interrelate to each other; assess and strengthen community capacity to identify and prioritize reproductive health (RH)/ family planning (FP) issues, plan and implement effective community activities to address these issues; articulate their feelings, values and attitudes about gender and how personal perspectives of gender affects their work with communities; monitor community mobilization process, outcomes, and learning across communities; and plan how the new skills and knowledge will be applied upon return to their respective countries.

“Our expectation here is that whatever we learned from this training should be applied so the community can be the beneficiary”, Mr. Gaye expressed.

Hence, Adeniyi Olalekan Ekisola, a Nigerian participant, described the training as “strategies to building partnership between communities and the health system”.

In furtherance, participants assembled a Community Action Group (CAG) to work on key FP/RH issues that would describe modem approaches and tools to explore and prioritize SBC determinants of RH/FP issues, and they identified, through session discussion and presentations, a community behaviour that are easier or harder to change.

Finally, at the end of the training, participants defined process and tools for supportive supervision, monitoring and reporting of community mobilization initiatives, identified the areas of improvement for the workshop, and annex commitment to use their new skills to mobilize communities in their respective countries.

Their interventions will harness the demonstrated power of communication—from mass media to community outreach to user-driven social media campaigns—to inspire long-lasting change, while also taking advantage of innovative approaches from marketing science, behavioral economics, and human-centered design.They were certificated for their participation.

Signed: ___________________________

            Felecia Gbesioh

            Director of Communications, MoH/RL

MOH, Partners Celebrate African Vaccination Week 2022

The Ministry of Health (MOH) in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) and other partners has joined other African countries to celebrate and launched the African Vaccination Week 2022 in Liberia.

The African Vaccination Week is an annual event that is marked in the last week of April; it is also being held in conjunction with World Immunizations week. In 1974, WHO created the Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI), a worldwide effort mobilized to help countries increase immunization coverage of basic childhood vaccines—diphtheria, measles, pertussis, polio, tetanus, and tuberculosis—using the third dose of diphtheria, tetanus.

Speaking at the event in Monrovia, Dr. Musu Duworkor, WHO Family Planning/SRHR Focal Point-Liberia, said the purpose of the African Vaccination Week is to provide the opportunity to showcase the importance of vaccines “in our lives”, showing how to protect the humanity of all ages. “So vaccination is not for babies along.” However, the African Vaccination Week 2022 is been celebrated under the theme: “Long Life for All.”

Dr. Musu Duworkor, WHO Family Planning/SRHR Focal Point-Liberia

“The 2022 theme “long life for all” clearly demonstrates this goal and it portrays the lifesaving potential vaccines for everyone everywhere,” she added. Dr. Duworkor, further indicated that this indicates the universality of vaccination across the globe. She however acknowledged that there are mixed opportunities to get everyone everywhere vaccinated all of the time, for example, the “COVID-19 vaccination coverage is about 58% up to date.” In Africa Dr. Duworkor said, the COVID-19 vaccination average is about 18.7% and for Liberia “we have been progressing and we are more the African average and Liberia has now achieved more than 44%.” Henceforth the African Vaccination Week is essential to the advocacy and drives to promote the universality of vaccination for everyone everywhere.

However, the African Vaccination Week 2022 kick-off from 24-30 of April, today’s event however, brought together development partners, and health professionals including baby mothers from different communities in Monrovia.

Liberia is celebrating African Vaccination Week 2022 with vaccination services to keep children healthy. The services according to health authorities will be provided in all 15 Counties at Clinics, Hospitals, and designated outreach sites.

Adolphus Clark, Program Manager, Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) in Liberia, informed the public that as a people and country, “it is important to appreciate from whence we have come from and where we are today.” Mr. Clark recalled that the history of immunization in Liberia is dated back to 1973, and Liberia was notified by the WHO in 1974 to establish what is  now called the “Expanded Program on Immunization” he clarified that Liberia at the time didn’t do too well, “it took us 4years to achieve and so one of the reasons why we could not introduce or launch this the program was due to the lack of proper infrastructure in place to ensure that all health facilities were equipped to have the storage capacity for storing our vaccines.”

According to him, Liberia needed to train human resources for health, “I mean people needed to be trained on how to administer vaccines and how to handle it. When the country officially launched the Immunization program in 1978, the Ministry at the time was targeting many diseases including measles, pertussis, tetanus, and tuberculosis among others. It was renamed as Universal Immunization Program in 1985 when its reach was expanded beyond urban areas.


Mr. Clark has disclosed that amid the outbreak of measles in the communities across Montserrado

Meanwhile, Mr. Clark has disclosed that amid the outbreak of measles in the communities across Montserrado, there are ongoing efforts to do a national response in all of the 15 counties beginning May 2, 2022. During this period the Ministry of Health is expected to vaccinate about 2million persons, we have confidence in our team,” said Mr. Clark.

At the same time, WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, said in a special message that this year’s theme, “Long Life for All”, highlights the life-saving potential of vaccines for everyone, everywhere. Yet, in Africa, tens of millions of people are still missing out on some, or all, their scheduled immunizations against diseases that have long been eradicated by vaccines.

Delivering a special message in commemoration of the (AVW), Dr. Moeti, disclosed that more than a year into the COVID-19 global vaccine rollout, Africa is benefiting – if later than the rest of the world – from the speedy, efficient development of vaccines to curb the virus. There are currently 10 COVID-19 vaccines available through the COVAX Facility, with more in the research and development pipeline.

According to her, although 480 million COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in Africa to date, making it the biggest vaccine rollout in the history of the continent, only 18.7% of the African population is fully vaccinated – lagging woefully behind the global average of 58%.

Dr. Moeti: “WHO, together with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, UNICEF, World Bank, the United States Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has identified 20 priority countries in the WHO African Region for intensified support? Multi-partner country support teams are currently on the ground helping countries with technical and financial resources to ramp up overall and high-priority group COVID-19 vaccination coverage.”

As we work to accelerate COVID-19 vaccination efforts, it is critical that we don’t ignore the urgent need to also strengthen routine immunization efforts. Since 2020, routine immunization has been negatively impacted by COVID-19 containment measures, leading to tens of millions of infants in Africa missing out on essential childhood vaccinations. These include the Diphtheria, Tetanus toxoid, and Pertussis (whooping cough)-containing vaccine, as well as the measles vaccine.

Earlier this year, she noted that a case of wild poliovirus type 1 was recorded in Malawi. This vaccine-preventable disease had been eliminated from the African Region since August 2020. “I commend the Government of Malawi for moving swiftly to contain the outbreak, quickly vaccinating 2.7 million children younger than five against the disease.” However, the incident is a timely reminder that routine vaccinations should be a non-negotiable on our continent.

We have also seen some good examples of best practices, with routine immunization integrated with COVID-19 vaccination. In response to the Yellow Fever outbreak in late 2021, for instance, mobile vaccination teams in Ghana carried Yellow Fever vaccines along with COVID-19 vaccines, vaccinating all eligible people against both. Nigeria recently launched the optimized SCALES 2.0 strategy, which will integrate routine childhood immunization with COVID-19 vaccination at its fixed and mobile vaccination sites.

She urged all countries to ramp up routine immunization and COVID-19 vaccination efforts concurrently, allocating the necessary resources. Maintaining routine immunization services, despite the shift of resources to fight the COVID-19 pandemic in the past two years, is more cost-effective, and will leader to a longer life for all.  

Signed:_____________________________

            Felecia Gbesioh

           Director of Communications MoH/RL

CIRCULAR TO ALL MINISTRIES & AGENCIES ON FINANCIAL REPORTS FOR THE SPECIAL FISCAL YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2021

Dear All:

Please be informed that the Annual Financial Statements for FY’2021 (Special Budget) and Quarter I of the current Fiscal Year 2022 are overdue.

The Comptroller & Accountant General through this media request all heads of spending entities to submit their Financial Statements for the Special Budget Year (July 1 – December 31, 2021 and the First Quarter financial statements for FY2022 as required by law.

Section I 9 of the Public Financial Management Act (PFM ACT 2019) states: “There shall be prepared by each head of government agency and transmitted to the Audit General, the Minister and the Comptroller General in respect of each quarter commencing from the beginning of the fiscal year, the accountant of all public funds under his/her control.

In view of the above, all spending entities are reminded to submit their financial statements on or before Friday, April 29, 2022.

Please note that failure to adhere to this circular, punitive measures as enshrined in the revised Public Financial Management Act and PFM regulations will be taken.

Signed: Janga A. Kowo                          Approved: Hon.Samuel D. Tweah, Jr.

Comptroller & Accountant General                                 Minister                                                                                                                      

Atty. Janga A. Kowo, LLB MBA

Comptroller and Accountant General

Republic of Liberia

Ministry of Finance and Development Planning

Tel: +231886537952

        +231770810011

MoH, Partners Handover Medical Supplies to Worhn Clinic

The provision of essential commodities which has enhanced access to quality healthcare service delivery at various health facilities across the nation that contributes to the reduction in deaths of newborn and children as well as the population in general, has been so passionate and dedicated commitment by Liberia’s Health Minister, Dr. Wilhelmina Jallah.

In supra, the Minister joined Chinese envoy credited near Monrovia along with UNICEF Chief of Party to Liberia, to donate assorted medical supplies to Worhn Clinic in Margibi County.

60 IEHK2017, kit, suppl, 1c-cold chain medicine; 50 obstetric, surgical kit, suppl, 2-equipment; 49 obstritic, surgical kit, suppl, 1-drugs; midwifery kit—equipment, 2; 60 Cardiotocograp (CTG monitor), normal and twins Fetal Heart Rate (FHR) AND Uterine contraction (UC) detection; 60 resuscitation kit, basic (adult, neonate and child); 4 scanner, ultrasound, mobile, w/access; 60 Midwifery kit, 1-drugs; 60 resuscitation platform; and 8, 053 ready to use therapeutic food (RUTF) presented to the County Health Team of Margibi to reduce challenges of stock out of essential lifesaving commodities, thereby enabling health service providers to provide uninterrupted services.

The PAPD represents the highest level of government commitment to investing in and driving socio-economic development in the country.  Additionally, the interventions on neonatal health are aligned to the Liberia Every Newborn Action Plan (ENAP) 2019-2023. The main strategic focus and priority of the ENAP is to improve the health of neonates and to ensure availability and accessibility of this services in public health facilities.

The care of children with SAM is aligned to the government’s National Nutrition Policy (NNP) as well as the UNICEF Global Nutrition Strategy.

Signed:_____________________________

            Felecia Gbesioh

           Director of Communications MoH/RL

MOH Hosts Regional Training On “Mobilizing Communities for Reproductive Health and Family Planning”

(April 25, 2022, Paynesville City, Liberia)—The Ministry of Health is hosting a five-day regional training on “Mobilizing Communities for Reproductive Health and Family Planning”. It is being held at the Kendeja Hotel, Paynesville City, outskirt of Monrovia.

The training, which started today, April 25 -29,2022, is organized by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through Breakthrough Action-Liberia.

Firmly grounded in proven practices, Breakthrough ACTION has been working in partnership with the Liberian government through the Ministry of Health, civil society, and communities in twelve counties across Liberia to implement creative and sustainable SBC programming, nurture SBC champions, mainstream new techniques and technologies, and advocate strategic and sustained investment in SBC.

“Breakthrough ACTION is a cooperative agreement funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to lead our SBC programming in Liberia. Breakthrough ACTION is a partnership led by the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs in collaboration with Save the Children, etc”, Dr. Saratu Olabode-Ojo, Chief of Party, Breakthrough Action-Liberia, disclosed at the opening of the training. “This training a five-day training. It’s a regional community engagement training, organized for Anglo-phone countries. There are seven countries present here. The idea is to training them on community engagement with a focus on family planning and reproductive health intervention.”

Dr. Saratu Olabode-Ojo, Chief of Party, Breakthrough Action-Liberia

“Breakthrough ACTION ignites collective action and encourages people to adopt healthier behaviors—from using modern contraceptive methods and sleeping under bed nets to being tested for HIV—by forging, testing, and scaling up new and hybrid approaches to social and behavior change (SBC).”

However, Hon. Joyce D Sherman, Assistant Minister for Preventive Services at the Ministry of Health, has lauded USAID and Breakthrough ACTION for their continuous interventions and at the same time called on participants to remain focused during the five-day training period.

“Taking responsibility as well as holding together, I see it as part of this training. However, I welcome you again”, she welcomed on behalf of the Minister of Health.   

Hon. Joyce D Sherman, Assistant Minister for Preventive Services

The five-day training exercise focus is to strengthen participant’s capacities to carry out Community Mobilization for Reproductive Health and family planning, using the adapted Community Action Cycle (CAC).

At the end of the training, participants are expected to understand various concepts including social and behaviour change communication (SBCC); social and behavior change (SBC); Community Mobilization (CM) and how they interrelate to each other; assess and strengthen community capacity to identify and prioritize reproductive health (RH)/ family planning (FP) issues, plan and implement effective community activities to address these issues; articulate their feelings, values and attitudes about gender and how personal perspectives of gender affects their work with communities; monitor community mobilization process, outcomes, and learning across communities; and plan how the new skills and knowledge will be applied upon return to their respective countries.

Participant will be able to describe strategies to build partnership between communities and health system; explain and model strategies to orient the community to their RH/FP issues; discuss key considerations and model strategies to build trust, credibility and a sense of ownership with the community.

participants

These discussions and model strategies, when applied, would invite and encourage those most affected by RH/FP issues to meaningfully participate in CM. The participants will also  assemble a Community Action Group (CAG) to work on key FP/RH issues, describe and modem approaches and tools to explore and prioritize SBC determinants of RH/FP issues; identify community behavior that are easier or harder to change; examine culture changes during their lifetimes; explore the difference between respecting culture and changing culture and discuss when and how it’s appropriate to nudge changes in social and cultural norms; and model the development of a Community Action Plan to address prioritized FP/RH determinants.

Finally, at the end of the training, participants are expected to define process and tools for supportive supervision, monitoring and reporting of community mobilization initiatives, identify the areas of improvement for the workshop, and annex commitment to use their new skills to mobilize communities in their respective countries.

Their interventions will harness the demonstrated power of communication—from mass media to community outreach to user-driven social media campaigns—to inspire long-lasting change, while also taking advantage of innovative approaches from marketing science, behavioral economics, and human-centered design.

Signed: ___________________________

            Felecia Gbesioh

            Director of Communications, MoH/RL

Ministry of Health’s COVID-19 Protocols for Travelers

Incoming Travelers:

  1. All travelers must complete the Health Screening from via the Liberia Travel application (“Lib travel app”) at http://liberiacoviidtravel.org. anyone experiencing problems with the app can access a copy of the form via the National Public Health Institute of Liberia website @ nphil.gov.lr.
  • All travelers 18 years and above Must show proof of COVID-19 vaccination upon arrival and present a negative COVID-19 test result no earlier than 71 hours before departure.
  1. All travelers without proof of vaccination will be returned to their country of embarkation at the expense of the airline.
  • COVID-19 testing is not required on arrival at Robert’s International Airport

Outgoing Travelers:

All travelers Must check the COVID-19 guidelines and regulations of their destination country.

  1. All persons traveling out of Liberia are encouraged to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and follow the COVID-19 protocol requirement(s) of the destination country.
  2. All persons traveling to countries that require a COVID-19 test must present a negative COVID-19 test certificate before departure.
  1. COVID-19 sample collection (testing) for PCR and RDT is available at the Union Center located on Sophia Road in Congo Town, Monrovia from 9 am to 4 pm, 7 day7s a week. Travelers are encouraged to register at http://liberiacoviidtravel.org. prior to arrival at the Union Center. To register, select “Request a Travel Certificate” and fill out the requested information. Travelers should ensure they provide correct contact details and will receive a unique identification number to retrieve their test result online (http://liberiacoviidtravel.org). Travelers are encouraged to print a hard copy of their negative COVID-19 certificate before arriving at the Report’s International Airport.
  • Testing fees for outgoing travelers that require COVID-19 travel certificate: ECOWAS citizens traveling to ECOWAS Countries must pay US$50 for cost of COVID-19 testing while those travelling outside the ECOWAS region must pay US$75. Payments can either be made online or in cash at the UBA banking window at the Union Testing Center.
  • Travelers who test positive will be denied travel and must adhere to the Liberia’s COVID-19 Case Management Guidelines. A re-test will be conducted on day five (5) based on prevailing health status.

Signed: _________________________________________________

               Wilhemina S. Jallah, MD, MPH, CHES, FLCP, FWACP

                  Minister of Health and IMS Chair

Nurse 2 Nurse Trains Over 200 Nurses In Monrovia

Education doesn’t end after nurses graduate and become licensed RNs. Instead, they start on a path of lifelong learning that goes on throughout their nursing careers. It’s critical that they continue gathering information to keep abreast of changes in nursing.

Nurses continue to learn throughout their careers to gain knowledge so they can competently fulfill their scope of practice and standards of care. It may include formal or informal educational opportunities.

Healthcare is complex and practices are always evolving. A large segment of the patient population is over the age of 65, and older patients tend to suffer from one or more chronic health conditions. Nurses must have the necessary expertise to treat elderly patients and help them manage illnesses such as heart or kidney disease, diabetes, arthritis, cancer, dementia, Alzheimer’s and obesity.

Lifelong learning gives nurses the critical-thinking and problem-solving skills needed to resolve issues they may encounter while taking care of patients. When nurses are up to date on new techniques, policies and procedures they take concrete steps in saving lives. This lifelong learning is gained from clinical practice and learning from colleagues.

Based on this, a US based Liberian health and humanitarian organization has completed training of over 200 nurses in Liberia. “It is our organization of giving back a country from. We believe coming back to Liberia to contribute an obligation as Liberian nurses who based in the United States providing services for the people of that country”, Joyce Kolu Mator, Chief Executive Officer of the Organization.

The team of trainers includes: Joe Mator, Jozelle Mator, Famata Williams, Rachel M. Garnett, Zelina Clarke, and Johnetta Sumo, who are conglomerate of nurses grown from different health facilities in the US.

Signed:_______________________

           Felecia Gbesioh

           Director of Communications, MoH/LR

Several Persons Receive Free Screening and Eye Surgery In Greenville

(Greenville, Sinoe County, Liberia)— over one hundred eye patients across Sinoe County and its environs have received free screening and eye surgery, as part of efforts to minimize people living with blindness or eye condition. This was a joint effort by the Ministry of Health, and Samaritan’s Purse in collaboration with New Sight Eye Center.

The Cataract Surgical outreach began with pre-screening from March 7-11 in several parts of Sinoe County including Greenville City, Taryuowon, Solokai, Yumobo, Karquekpo, Konwiah, Chebioh, Government Camp, ITI, among other places, as a prerequisite to the surgical eye operation. Official eye surgery stated at the F. J. Grante Memorial Hospital in Sinoe County, from Monday, March 14 to Thursday, 17, 2022. Over 800 persons were screened while 104 of the number successfully underwent surgical eye operations.

As a way of providing patients with free access to mobility, the Samaritan’s Purse (the supporting partner to the project) transported closed to eight-hundred patients from the aforementioned localities to the F. J. Grante Memorial Hospital, to and fro. Few of them suffered from cataract, pterygium, and cyst. They received free medical and surgical eye operation, logging, feeding and transportation in the package.

Speaking on behalf of government and the Ministry, Dr. Joseph Kerkulah, National Eye Health Program Director of MOH, said: “A new strategy was employed to motivate the general public to pull in for medical services. We carried a patient on one of the community radios for interviews, both before and after. And he was taken to his community where there was jubilation amongst the locals. This strategy worked for us as a team”.

He thanks the Sinoe County Health Team for their warmth welcome and Cooperation throughout the exercise.

Dr. Kerkulah at the same time lauded Samaritan’s Purse and the New Sight Eye Center for unremittingly buttressing government’s efforts, and reassumed government’s commitment and collaboration with partners for providing and delivering quality health services for all Liberians.

William Bedford, Community Health Department Director of the Sinoe County Health Team, in remarks, thanks the team for rendering such a remarkable service to the people of the county, and asked for the team’s return in the future.

The Ministry’s press statement further noted that most people who regained new sight were adults, constituting about 95% of the total number of patients who underwent the surgical operation.

To meet the designated target by the Surgical Team, a strategic was drafted by the team on its first working day (Monday, March 13, 2022) to encourage people living with eye complication can move to the hospital for free medication. During the meeting, field teams were constituted to mobilize and track patients with eye complications. It was agreed to selected a patient who will encourage other patients through radio talk show to create awareness.

This strategy employed by the team worked well as patients were in their numbers at the F.J. Grante Memorial Hospital, when Mr. Stephen T. Chie, 62 years old, made two appearances (before and after) on Liberty Broadcasting System. He was firstly accompanied by Dr. Robert Dolo, New Sight Eye Center Executive Director. They both encouraged patients to seek eye medication at the hospital.

On that same Monday, a team led by Jetty Zebeh went to ITI in River Cess County to create awareness and screen patients. Through their joint efforts an influx of patients pulled to the surgical site in Greenville.

Tuesday, about 28 patients’ sights were restored including Stephen T. Chie, who was at the center of creating awareness in his local Sarpo and Kru vernaculars.

Stephen T. Chie, a farmer, who had gone blind over four years explained his ordeal: “I have been for over four now. Almost all my women including some friends have abandoned me because of my condition.’’ He continued: “I am sure the reason this is because I am unable to do what I used to when I was seeing”.

He explained that he woke one morning in 2018, his eyes started itching. Few months later, his sight started declining, which led to his blindness.

Meanwhile, after a successful surgical operation, he was glad to have his sight restored; hence, his people in the outskirt of Greenville were in total jubilation upon his arrival along with the surgical team at his resident.

His grandchild asked him whether he could see them clearly: “I can see clearly: every color of cloths on you I can it now. Oh this is my daughter who can give me hard time that her here? This time around you will not fool me again”, he said jokingly.

In the same vein, Morris Swen, 59, said: “I am the Town Chief of Government Camp. I got blind for almost 2yrs, now. Though, I am the Town Chief but doing my own work is not easy. I cannot do anything by myself. Somebody has to help me through. But by the grace of God, I am sure through this operation, He will help me through,” he said with conviction before undergoing the surgical operation on Wednesday afternoon.

Immediately after his successful operation he noted: “Being blind wasn’t easy but by the grace of God, I was able to regain my sight. I am happy and I feel blessed because if it weren’t for God Almighty I wouldn’t had regained my sight,” Mr. Swen expressed with joy.

Gabriel Worjloh, a resident of Solokai explained: “I suffered 6yrs of blindness. I don’t know what the cause is. But one day my eye started hitting. From that day, my eye condition has worsened. I cannot even see you. I am only hearing your voice.”

After the operation he noted: “I bless God for my children who stood by me throughout my years of blindness. I am grateful to God for his intervention in my life and the chance. I have once more life to live again.”

The surgical outreach ended with a program, with supporting and implementing partners using the occasion to appreciate government for providing them the space to contribute to humanity, especially in the Country’s health sector.

Signed:_______________________

           Felecia Gbesioh

           Director of Communications, MoH/LR

Italian Embassy Donates Equipment To MOH

(Congo Town, Monrovia, Liberia, February 18, 2022) As part of bilateral relations with the Government of Liberia through the Ministry of Health for the provision of quality healthcare Services delivery in Liberia, the Italian Embassy near Monrovia through its Ambassador-At-Large H. E. Riccardo Milici, has donated one laptop computer and a Samsung iPhone to the Nursing and Midwifery Division of the Ministry of Health. The donation was made in Congo Town on Friday, February 18, 2022.

The donation will enhance equipment of the Ministry’s newly established mini health post aimed at providing healthcare services for employees of the Ministry, according to Diana T. Sarteh, Acting Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer of the Ministry.

“We have brought these equipment to enhance the working of the mini post being established by the Ministry. We are grateful for being in partnership with the Ministry and Liberia as a whole”, H.E. Riccardo Milici noted.

The Italian Embassy has made significant sacrifices and needed contributions to the health sector of Liberia, with assorted medical supplies donated to the ministry being few.

Receiving the donation on behalf of the government and people of Liberia, Hon. George Paygar Jacobs, Assistant Minister for Policy and Planning at the Ministry of Health recounted the numerous contributions made by the government and people of Italy, describing it as a milestone for the provision of quality service delivery.

“On behalf of the Minister of Health, we want to appreciate you for the delivery of these items. And thanks also for the support and commitment to the health sector over the period,” Minister Jacobs remarked.

 Signed: ________________________________

           Felecia Gbesioh

           Director of Communication, MOH   

Scaling Up Care For Mental Health: MOH, Partners Conclude Regional Mental Health Workshop

(February 17, 2022, Monrovia, Liberia)—the Ministry of Health in collaboration with local and international partners has concluded a three-day long mental health workshop aimed at developing a theory of change that would provide a strategic directions to mental health and psychosocial integration into selected countries’ national emergency preparedness and response plans on the African continent.

The workshop, which started from February 15 to 17, 2022, was held in Monrovia under the theme “Strengthening Mental Health And Psychosocial Support Integration Into Emergency Preparedness And Response.”

Dr. Wilhelmina Jallah who officially kicked off the opening told participants that Mental, neurological and substance use disorders are highly prevalent and burdensome on the African continent as a result of large numbers of emergencies, including conflicts and outbreaks; such as Ebola, COVID-19 and other disasters, saying “All such emergencies have a huge impact on the mental health, causing widespread of distress and impact negatively on national development”.

The Liberian Health Minister was concerned about the permeating and unfortunate mental health emergency that causes suffering and migration which continues to impose threat on the African continent.

She said, those unfortunate situations are increasingly rare in the region of West Africa; of which Liberia is inclusive in experiencing emergency, and “we have seen the negative impact of war and other traumatic experiences on our people’s mental health. The COVID-19 pandemic, Ebola epidemic and many other outbreaks, including fewer and diseases mainly increase the mental health need of the people in Liberia.”

In supra, the MOH recognizes the need for action to reduce the burden, and to enhance the capacity of healthcare service providers to respond to this growing challenge. The National Mental Health Program is aimed at scaling up services for mental, neurological and substance use disorders across the country.

“As a recognition of the importance of mental health, the MOH and partners have been working hard, to experience access to and improve the deliverables of mental health services.

“Hundreds of healthcare workers across the country were trained and equipped with skills to provide mental healthcare.” She remarked earlier.

However, the development of comprehensive description and illustration of how MHPS integration will translate into positive health outcomes in short, medium and long range to contribute to the overall goal of strengthening mental health system in Africa, especially in emergency response was highlighted and discussed among participants.

Shared lessons from COVID-19 and other emergency responses; and familiarizing the participants with MHPS minimum services package for effective emergency response were part of the three days learning sessions.  

Hon. Angie Tarr Nyankoon, Director of National Mental Health Program at the Ministry of Health shared with participants some gains Liberia has made in drafting mental health legislation that are expected to be in circulation for public consumption.

“The Liberian government has passed a mental health law that is printed into handbill and is ready for dissemination to educate the public on mental health issues and ways forward”, she noted.

Meanwhile, Dr. Mohammed Abdullah, Africa’s CDC Health of Division for Disease Control and Prevention, called for sustainability of such educative international engagement to ensure an integrated mental health emergency preparedness response on the African Continent.

“What’s next for us? How do we link it to a sustainable in order to ensure that we integrate it into an emergency preparedness response. What do we do concrete to move this forward in our countries.  The consortium is here to support, Africa CDC is here to support and this one areas where Africa CDC does very well to integrate what you are doing into a sustainable system within the country,” He averred.

Climaxing the workshop, Montserrado County Health Team’s head, Dr. Yatta Wapoe, speaking on behalf of government and the Ministry of Health, used the occasion to thank the organizers for selecting Liberia as host.

“We are happy to have this opportunity to collaborate with a coalition of mental health experts from the African Center for Disease Control (CDC), the World Health Organization (WHO), the West Africa Health Organization (WAHO), the Eastern African Health Community and the UK Health Rapid Response. We are also glad to be joined by representatives from Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Cameroon as well as the very hardworking mental health and psychosocial health support representative in Liberia and other countries. This workshop is an important step towards making mental health a priority and the essential part of the emergency response and the overall strengthening of mental health system in Africa.

The National Mental Health and Psychosocial pillar as part of the IMS has worked tirelessly in responding to various outbreaks. Moving forward, the government through the Ministry of Health commits the full support and integrate mental health and psychosocial support into the emergency preparedness and response.   

Successful scaling up is the joint responsibility of governments, health professionals, civil society, communities, and families, with support from the international community.

Signed: ________________________________

           Felecia Gbesioh

           Director of Communication, MOH