Covid-19 Response in Liberia

Liberia

Although health services are being progressively restored in Liberia, important gaps persist, notably in specialised paediatric care and mental health.

Our teams provide specialised paediatric care in the Bardnesville Junction Hospital that we opened in Monrovia during the Ebola epidemic in 2015. Malnutrition, malaria, and lower respiratory tract infections are some of the most common conditions among the children we treat. 

In 2021, we resumed the paediatric surgery programme in the hospital, where we provide urological, plastic and emergency surgeries. We also resumed hands-on paediatric training programmes for Liberian health workers.

Due to a lack of medications for mental health or neurological disorders, patients often face social stigma that can lead to exclusion from schools or jobs. We support health facilities in Montserrado County with diagnosis, treatment and essential medicines for mental health conditions and epilepsy, and continue to expand our cohort of patients in five health facilities. 

Our teams also supervise health workers in outpatient departments and make hospital referrals when necessary. In addition, we collaborate with psychosocial workers and volunteers to identify patients, and work with their families and communities to reduce social stigma.

Saving Children's Lives in Liberia- ENG with subtitles
video

Saving children's lives in Liberia

Saving children's lives in Liberia

Tanya Haj-Hassan is an MSF pediatrician from Philadelphia who worked at Bardnesville Junction Hospital in Liberia's capital, Monrovia, from April to October 2018.

We set up Bardnesville Junction Hospital in 2015 to provide urgently needed care for children during the Ebola epidemic, which claimed the lives of more than 200 Liberian medical workers and put a heavy strain on the country's medical system. The hospital now admits about 100 children a week for conditions including malaria, severe acute malnutrition, non-bloody diarrhea and respiratory tract infections.

Dr Haj-Hassan explains why child mortality remains so high and what the team at Bardnesville have done to help save more children's lives.

Our activities in 2021 in Liberia

Data and information from the International Activity Report 2021.

365

365

staff in 2021 (full-time equivalent)

8.3M€

8.3M

expenditure in 2021

1990

199

Year MSF first worked in the country
MSF in Liberia in 2021 Médecins Sans Frontières runs a paediatric hospital in the Liberian capital, Monrovia, and provides care for people with mental health disorders and epilepsy in their communities.

In 2021, we continued to offer specialised paediatric care in Bardnesville Junction Hospital, which we opened in Monrovia during the Ebola epidemic six years earlier. Malnutrition, malaria and lower respiratory tract infections are some of the most common conditions among the children we treated. We resumed the hospital's paediatric surgery programme, which was disrupted in 2020 due to COVID-19, and carried out urological, reconstructive plastic and emergency surgery. We also resumed hands-on paediatric training programmes for Liberian health workers, such as nursing students, nurse anaesthetists and intern doctors.

Mental health and epilepsy
Medications for mental health and neurological disorders, such as epilepsy, are not widely available in Liberia. People with these conditions often face social stigma that can lead to exclusion from schools or jobs. In 2017, we started supporting health facilities in Montserrado county to diagnose and treat patients with mental health conditions or epilepsy, and supplying essential medicines.

In 2021, we continued to expand our cohort of patients through five health facilities. Our team supervised health workers treating patients on an outpatient basis and made hospital referrals when necessary. We also coordinated psychosocial workers and health volunteers to work with patients' families and communities, addressing social stigma.

Ebola preparedness
After Ebola reappeared in neighbouring Guinea in 2021, we sent a team to Nimba and Lofa counties to help health workers detect and prepare for potential cases of Ebola in Liberia's border areas. 

 

In 2021

20,300

20,3

people received care for mental health disorders or epilepsy

5,070

5,07

children admitted to the hospital
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