Over the last decade, Liberia has made great strides in the approach to preventing and treating neglected tropical diseases. While poverty is high, and challenges such as the Ebola epidemic create barriers, much is being done to improve health services.

Effect Hope has been working with partners in Liberia since 2011. During the Ebola outbreak, with our partners, we played an important role. Today, our work focuses on working with partners and government to strengthen the country’s health system to ensure people affected by neglected tropical diseases are diagnosed early, receive treatment, and have the resources they need to integrate into society.

Together with our partners, we launched the first program nationally to integrate all aspects of diagnosis and treatment for neglected tropical diseases within the health system. At the program’s core is the belief that, if you can equip every community volunteer and healthcare worker with the basic knowledge to identify and refer or treat a person with a neglected tropical disease at their closest health facility, you break down critical barriers to care.

While improving the knowledge and skills at the community-level, the program works with the Ministry of Health to ensure that the drugs, surveillance and referral pathways are available and working so that the system is in place to support the community volunteers and health workers as people are diagnosed and treated.