James Myking Suah, Grand Kru County Correspondent
BARCLAYVILLE, Jan. 16 (LINA) – Medical Team International (MTI), a non-government organization, has launched a year-long project in Grand Kru County intended to restore confidence among the population in the aftermath of the 2014 Ebola Virus Disease outbreak in Liberia.
The virus also affected countries in the Mano River basin, except La Cote d’Ivoire, leaving persons or families who were directly and indirectly impacted by the outbreak the burden of overcoming stigma, discrimination and varying social challenges notwithstanding the years the spread of the virus was stemmed as a result of collective local and international efforts.
Even though it has been nearly five years since the virus was eradicated, the latest campaign of the medical group aims to make people across Grand Kru to continue to build confidence in the healthcare delivery system following a scourge that saw the loss of several hundreds of lives in the county, mainly in the hardly accessible Forpoh Statutory District.
Launched in Grand Kru’s main city of Barclayville, the post-Ebola confidence program, sponsored by Germany’s aid agency GIZ, is designed to respond to infectious disease outbreak, and capacity-building of health workers at county and district levels.
It will support the County Health Team to secure and consolidate gains made in developing and implementing a reliable surveillance using the local health system, said MTI coordinator Richard Zeogar.
« We are working closely with the county health team and the county administration to ensure the smooth implementation of the project, » said Zeogar.
On his part, Samuel Gee of the county health team said the project was timely and positive as it will buttress the government in the delivery of quality health services to people, especially communities that need special attention.
During the unveiling of the program, the office of superintendent of Grand Kru hailed MTI for the initiative and committed its support, urging people in the county to take ownership of the project.
LINA JMS/JRC/PTK
