Last week in Liberia, Effect Hope joined the Ministry of Health on the Road Way to Health radio program. The conversation featured Dr. Karsor Kollie, Senior Global Health Advisor at Effect Hope, alongside Ministry of Health leaders Mr. Anthony K. Bettee, Director of the National NTD Program, and Mrs. Darwosu B. Dahn, Coordinator for Schistosomiasis and UGS.
Together, they spoke about urogenital schistosomiasis (UGS), a preventable and manageable disease that continues to affect many people in Liberia, particularly in rural communities.
Across Liberia, especially in rural areas, daily life is deeply connected to water. People fish, bathe, swim, and wash clothes in nearby freshwater sources. While these activities are essential, they can also expose people to parasites that live in freshwater snails and enter the human body through skin contact with contaminated water. Over time, UGS can have devastating health consequences if left untreated. This reality makes awareness, education, and early detection critical to protecting health and wellbeing.
During the program, the speakers addressed the importance of clear and accessible information. Even light‑hearted moments, such as clarifying whether avoiding eating snails can prevent schistosomiasis, underscored how easily misinformation can spread and why community education matters. Radio programs like Road Way to Health play an important role in meeting people where they are, answering questions, and building shared understanding about how diseases like UGS are transmitted and prevented.
The conversation also highlighted what sets Liberia apart globally as they prepare to implement the world’s first nationally coordinated, integrated plan to address UGS. Developed with input from people affected by the disease and the community health assistants who serve them, this approach is positioning Liberia as a model other countries can learn from.
“Through the development of the document, I saw people affected by this disease as a part it. They had a say in how this process takes place. Community health assistants, people from the community…it’s not just something done from the national level coming down, you have community participation. That’s really unique.” – Dr. Karsor K. Kollie, Senior Global Health Advisor at Effect Hope
Effect Hope is proud to be a long‑term partner to Liberia’s Ministry of Health. Through this partnership, we are mobilizing resources, strengthening implementation, and standing alongside national and community leaders as they work to ensure preventable and manageable diseases no longer limit lives.
As one of the program hosts noted while referencing the show’s theme song: our health, our life is in our hands, and we make it better when we work together. That message closely reflects our belief at Effect Hope that health solutions are most sustainable when communities are not just included, but lead the way.
