Support Neighborhood Clinics in Liberia

For the first time since the start of the Ebola epidemic in Liberia, there are finally signs of hope that the crisis might soon be over. The State of Emergency has been lifted as infection rates have dropped drastically, with only four confirmed cases last week and dozens of empty beds in treatment facilities. Schools are scheduled to re-open and life is gradually returning to its normal pace. This unexpected turn is due largely to local efforts to track the disease, monitor contacts, educate and protect their communities from exposure. The cohesion and resilience that communities have demonstrated throughout the crisis, coupled with an intensified international response, has led to an earlier than expected recovery.  

Although signs remain optimistic, access to medical care for non-Ebola patients is still a major issue due to the collapse of the fragile public health system. People whose immune systems are already compromised are at greater risk of contracting Ebola and have often been exposed to the virus by comingling with Ebola patients at treatment centers due to the lack of available medical care. Therefore, as West Africa prepares to enter the next stage in the Ebola eradication process, our dedicated staff and volunteers in Liberia are continuing their efforts to support community health initiatives, supplying neighborhood clinics and keeping locals protected with sanitation materials. Our Liberian team, headed by Mulbah Richards and our Future Guardians of Peace in Monrovia (former child soldiers who are now community peacebuilders) along with Lasana Kamara and eg staff in Lofa County, initiated a re-supply of clinics already receiving our support in January, and added selected schools to the list that are in dire need of sanitation supplies as students return to school.

As part of our sanitation supply to local individuals, our Future Guardians of Peace have continued to hold awareness meetings with local ex-combatants and youth in their Monrovia neighborhood to collaborate on Ebola prevention and the proper use of sanitation materials (along with HIV/AIDS prevention and peacebuilding). Their last meeting, held on February 7, 2015, was lead by our FGP’s and scholarship students. Among a variety of topics discussed, FGP Ezekiel Mavolo reports:

 “The funds received for our efforts towards Ebola disease awareness and sensitization were effectively used to distribute supplies and to impart the knowledge and ideas we have achieved in previous workshops. The workshop was well attended and we had a very interactive conversation with questions and answers thrown back and forth. Participants meaningfully discussed the process by which this deadly virus is contracted and the preventative methods such as not to touch the sick or dead, even if they are loved ones, family, friends and relatives, as well as to wash their hands and shared supplies, and to stop eating bush meat, etc.”

As for the supply and monitoring of local neighborhood clinics, Mulbah Richards provided us with a brief report, accompanied by community testimonials of our most recent re-supply of more than a dozen clinics, schools, individual nurses and public restrooms we have been supporting in Monrovia slums and in border communities in northwestern Liberia, including Voinjama, Barkedu, and various villages along the highway between Gbarnga and Lofa County. Mulbah reports:

It was quite amazing to have another re-supply on January 28, 2015 to the five clinics, two individual nurses, four of the public toilets and three schools.  As usual, the materials included infrared thermometers, chloride, chlorine, soap, Tide-soap, spray cans, tissue, both surgical and examination gloves, and sanitation buckets with faucets.

We started the re-supply at Faith Clinic. At Faith, we met with some nurses and patients. In a short interview with one of the nurses, Ms. Josephina said:

    “The materials given to us by ‘everyday gandhis’ are really helping, in the sense that, we used the gloves and masks to prevent ourselves from direct physical contact with all our patients that come here. And the chlorine, chloride, soap and the tide-soap are used to clean the toilet and the entire clinic, and it is also used for washing hands, therefore, they have been helping a lot.”

 Once again, many thanks and appreciations were given to ‘everyday gandhis’ for remembering Liberia during the crisis and up to now.

To continue, we headed for Patience Medical Clinic in Red Hill Omega Community. At the clinic, both the patients and nurses were happy and smiling at us. In a short dialogue one nurse said:

   “We are out of words to express our gratitude and thanks...We help people with these items you provide for us. Some patients come here and we understand that they do not have the means of getting a bottle of chloride; therefore, we help give a little amount of chloride and tide-soap for private use at home.”

The same expression of gratitude was shown at the rest of the clinics. Some of them were saying that the protective materials we provided them with gave them the courage to stay at their clinics and work for the Liberian people who were suffering from common sicknesses.

Similar feelings were had at the public toilets we have been supplying. For example, one of the caretakers took the name ‘everyday gandhis’ and promised to call on a radio program to express his gratitude to eg for their fabulous work in the communities around Liberia. He also said:

    “The materials you give us are helping to keep the toilets clean, safe, fresh and smelling sweet, which all our customers admit.”

We are thankful for our Liberian family as they continue the arduous task of keeping these clinics and individuals supplied with the appropriate preventative materials.

In addition to awareness events and neighborhood clinic support, our local leaders have been making visits to remote villages where government and NGO health workers were attacked. These remote communities are often difficult to get to, requiring strenuous travel by foot or motorbike. Much of the international effort thus far has been limited to communities accessible by car, making contact tracing and disease awareness/prevention difficult. Therefore, eg has made it one of its priorities to make sure these communities are educated on Ebola and supplied with basic sanitation materials, ensuring the continued eradication of the disease from Liberia’s rural and border communities within our area of operation.

In the coming weeks, and as the crisis continues to improve and community needs invariably change, we will be assessing the future steps in building community health and resilience in a post Ebola landscape.  

Links:

• everyday gandhis Blog
• eg Winter 2015 'Ebola' Newsletter