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Liberia

In Liberia, skilled attendance at birth remains low, leading to higher rates of maternal death and injury such as obstetric fistula.

 Why We Work in Liberia

Over the last decade, Liberia has struggled to increase its poor maternal health outcomes – maternal mortality is high, skilled attendance at birth is low, and early childbearing remains common. The 2014 Ebola outbreak has only further devastated an already struggling health infrastructure. Overwhelmed systems and widespread panic have posed barriers to essential health care, including maternal health services. Lack of essential supplies, illness among health care providers, and fear of infection among staff have all contributed to the widespread closure of health facilities.

As a result there has been a sharp increase in pregnant women without access to emergency obstetric care or a health facility in which to give birth. Thus, we have good reason to anticipate a growing number of new cases of obstetric fistula in Liberia.

These new patients, as well as the backlog of existing fistula cases, are in urgent need of regular health services again and access to fistula care.

What You Help Us Do

We made the following investments to build Liberia’s in-country medical services and provide life-transforming surgery to as many women as possible:

Cost of Fistula Surgeries
Community Outreach

Meet Our Partners

We identify local surgical teams in Liberia already successfully treating women with fistula—and then work to amplify their efforts.

Who are our current partners?

Artemedis Liberia

  • Locations: Monrovia
  • Partner since: 2023
Who are our past partners?

Women and Health Alliance International (WAHA International)

  • Location: Monrovia
  • Partner In: 2015
How much funding have we granted?

 

Below are funding totals since the start of each partnership.

Current Partners

  • Artemedis Liberia: $237,210

Past Partners

  • Women and Health Alliance International (WAHA International): $266,100

 

 

 

News from the Field

Liberia: Restoring Fistula Treatment After Ebola  •  November 14, 2016
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During the 2014 Ebola outbreak, Liberia was one of the hardest-hit countries in West Africa, with the highest number of Ebola deaths. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Liberia...
During the 2014 Ebola outbreak, Liberia was one of the hardest-hit countries in West Africa, with the highest number of Ebola deaths. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Liberia reported 300 to 400 new Ebola cases every week in August and September 2014, a devastating pace for the country’s already weak health system. In the capital city of Monrovia, WHO reports that during that period, people were turned away from treatment centers overwhelmed with patients and that bodies sometimes went uncollected for days.
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Meet Christiana from Liberia  •  November 09, 2016
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Christiana* was 16 when she became pregnant with her fiancé’s child. Her labor was difficult, and resulted in a stillbirth. She remembers that the health worker who was present at...
Christiana* was 16 when she became pregnant with her fiancé’s child. Her labor was difficult, and resulted in a stillbirth. She remembers that the health worker who was present at the delivery put his hand in and out of her several times without using gloves. Three days later, she noticed she was leaking urine—she had developed an obstetric fistula. She didn’t know that her injury could be treated
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Your Donations at Work: Liberia  •  October 25, 2016
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During the 2014 Ebola outbreak, Liberia was one of the hardest-hit countries in West Africa, with the highest number of Ebola deaths. According to the World Health Organization, Liberia reported...
During the 2014 Ebola outbreak, Liberia was one of the hardest-hit countries in West Africa, with the highest number of Ebola deaths. According to the World Health Organization, Liberia reported 300 to 400 new cases every week in August and September 2014, a devastating pace for the country’s already weak health system.
Read more