The Ebola Virus Disease in Liberia: improving community awareness for disease surveillance
Future Health Systems
At the time of the 2014–2015 Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak, Liberia was still recovering from years of civil war and unrest. The country’s infrastructure was very poor, especially in rural regions, where people could not easily travel because of the lack of adequate roads. Liberia’s health system was also weakened by the civil war, leaving health facilities struggling to respond to the EVD outbreak effectively.
This Issue Brief provides the following priority actions for Government:
- Organise quarterly meetings between the communities and the Ministry of Health Units responsible for sharing vital information with communities to improve their working relationships.
- Ensure that, with the limited resources available, Health Promotion and Community Health Units are empowered to carry out their assigned duties in creating awareness and getting communities prepared for when there are outbreaks.
- Invest time and resources in the Ministry’s health promotion activities to educate rural communities about disease outbreak preparation.