In the capital Monrovia, our teams are supporting the Liberian Ministry of Health’s efforts to prevent and treat COVID-19. This has include assisting to improve patient flow and the quality of patient care in the dedicated treatment centre.
We also completed a month-long COVID-19 hygiene awareness and soap distribution campaign reaching more than 77,000 households in four of Monrovia’s most vulnerable neighbourhoods.
MSF staff and volunteers carry out a COVID-19 hygiene awareness campaign and distribute soap to households in Logan Town, near the capital city, Monrovia. MSF is urging people to stay at home and practice social distancing to prevent the spread of the coronavirus through the community. © Ruud van der Linden / MSF
Our mental health program remains ongoing but is now done remotely to reduce the movement of staff and patients.
In Bardnesville Junction children’s hospital however, staffing shortages due to travel restrictions have forced the suspension of paediatric surgery.
The West African country, home to just under five million people, is the continent’s oldest republic and the first African country to elect a female head of state.
The West African Ebola outbreak of 2014–2015 took a severe toll on the Liberian health system, which was already fragile and suffering from inadequate medical infrastructures resulting from two successive civil wars.
In 2015, MSF opened the Bardnesville Junction Hospital (BJH) in Monrovia, the Liberian capital and the epicentre of the Ebola outbreak, to support Liberia’s health services during the Ebola crisis.
MSF teams were involved in providing medical care, outreach activities, psychosocial support, health promotion and contact tracing. MSF established an Ebola management centre (EMC), trained local health staff, and ensured that alert systems were in place to refer suspected cases.
After the Ebola outbreaks in West Africa, many who survived the infection are now suffering from “post-Ebola syndrome", characterised by severe joint and body pain, headaches, traumatic flashbacks, vision problems, hair loss, impaired hearing, extreme fatigue, insomnia, memory loss, anxiety attacks and more.
In West Africa, as in Liberia, the use and abuse of paracetamol increased significantly after Ebola virus disease as people's fear of illness led them to self-medication. Paracetamol is present in most medicines cabinets in the home, and is sold under different names, which is why there is such a risk of overdose when taken simultaneously with multiple medications that contain it. Paracetamol overdose results in hepatic necrosis (necrosis of the liver), and it can lead to liver failure and encephalopathy, hemorrhage, hypoglycemia and cerebral edema in severe cases. It can be fatal if the liver transplant is not feasible.
Our community-based program is aimed at building the skills of local clinical and community outreach workers, while educating patients, families and communities about available medical care, to encourage people to seek treatment with a professional, and to remove the stigma associated with mental health conditions.
Although health services are being progressively restored in Liberia, important gaps persist in areas such as specialised paediatric care and mental health services.
© Nyquist Brandt / MSF
Mental health clinicians offer guidance to Ministry of Health personnel at the health centres, and psychosocial workers train volunteers. MSF also provides psychiatric and anti-seizure medication.
Our teaching hospital – validated by the Liberia Board of Nursery and Midwifery as a site for clinical skills training – provides specialised and emergency paediatric care, neonatology services, and management of complicated severe malnutrition. Our teams support mental health and epilepsy care at four primary healthcare centres in and around Monrovia.
Médecins Sans Frontières has been working in Afghanistan since 1980, providing emergency surgical care, responding to conflict and natural disasters, and treating people cut off from healthcare.
MSF worked in Angola from 1983 until 2007. Why were we there? Armed conflict Endemic/Epidemic disease Social violence/Healthcare exclusion
MSF worked in Argentina from 2001 until 2003. Why were we there? Providing essential medicines and supplies
Why are we there? Endemic/epidemic disease Social violence/healthcare exclusion Natural disaster
Why are we there? Armed conflict Endemic/epidemic disease Healthcare exclusion
Why are we there? Armed conflict Healthcare exclusion Natural disaster
MSF worked in Ecuador until 2007. Why were we there? Endemic/Epidemic disease Natural disaster
Why are we there? Armed conflict Endemic/epidemic disease Social violence/heathcare exclusion
Haiti’s healthcare system remains precarious in the wake of natural disasters and ongoing political and economic crises. Ongoing disasters have led to Haiti becoming the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.
Why are we there? Armed conflict Social violence Healthcare exclusion Endemic/epidemic disease
An MSF team in Hong Kong opened a project at the end of January focusing on health education for vulnerable people. Community engagement is a crucial activity of any outbreak response and in Hong Kong, this focuses on groups who are less likely to have access to important medical information, such as the socio-economically disadvantaged. The team is also targeting those who are more vulnerable to developing severe disease if they are infected, such as the elderly.
MSF worked in Indonesia between 1995 and 2009 Why were we there? Natural disaster
MSF ended its operations in Liberia in 2012. Why were we there? Endemic/epidemic disease Social violence/healthcare exclusion
Why are we there? Conflict Endemic/epidemic disease Healthcare exclusion
Why are we there? Endemic/epidemic disease Social violence/healthcare exclusion
Why are we there? Providing comprehensive emergency healthcare to people in remote regions of Pakistan is a priority, yet accessibility and security are a constraint for both Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and patients.
MSF worked in Rwanda from 1991 until 2007.
Why were we there? Conflict Healthcare exclusion Endemic/Epidemic disease
Why are we there? Endemic/epidemic disease Healthcare exclusion
Why are we there? Armed conflict Endemic/epidemic disease Healthcare exclusion
Why are we there? Armed conflict Endemic/Epidemic disease Healthcare exclusion
Why are we there? Endemic/epidemic disease Social violence Healthcare exclusion
