Monrovia – The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has provided technical assistance to the Government of Liberia aimed at fighting COVID-19.
The consignment of rain gears and assorted anti-coronavirus supplies was presented to Health Minister Dr. Whilemena Jallah on Saturday, June 13 in Congo Town.
Among the items are hand sanitizers, biohazard bags, and alcohol 70%.
Making donation at the Ministry of Health, USAID/Liberia Deputy Mission Director, Rebekah Eubanks, said that the Agency was happy to respond to an SOS request from the Ministry to support the urgent procurement of Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) supplies, and the ongoing efforts to ensure that contact tracers are able to continue their work even in the middle of the current rain season.
“Responding to COVID-19 in the rainy season is challenging, especially for community health workers and contact tracers who must conduct their field work even when it rains,” Madam Eubanks said.
“The rain gear we are handling over today is critical to ensuring that COVID-19 response activities continue, despite the rain.”
Ms. Eubanks said she was pleased to hand over the 200 sets of rain boots and coats and other assorted supplies because responding to COVID-19 in the rainy season is challenging especially for community health workers and contact tracers.
According to her, these items are also essential to preventing and controlling the spread of the disease.
She noted that the items will be used to strengthen the response work of the IMS, and to ensure that contact tracers are able to continue their very important work in various communities.
Director Eubanks lauded the efforts of the Government of Liberia to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and pledged the United States’ continuous support to the GOL in its fight against the pandemic.
Receiving the items, Dr. Wilhelmina Jallah thanked the Government and People of the United States for the donation and their overall support for the Liberian health care system.
The Liberia Health Minister warned against refusal of individuals in the country to continue wearing of facemask.
“COVID-19 is still here and the number of cases are increase every day, so don’t have the believe that we are free from the virus when we are not,” Minister Jallah averred.
“We are encouraging you to continually wear your face mask in public places and stick to your preventive measures.”
The United States Government support for COVID-19 response in Liberia also includes strengthening the capacity of county health teams for early detection and response to the outbreak.
Through USAID projects namely: the STAIP, LINKAGES, and NPI Expand activities, the United States Government is supporting the case management and strengthening clinical care in Montserrado County, plus case investigation to minimize the risk of transmission to others.
It also ensures the availability of infection prevention and control and technical assistance in selected counties., public health messaging about COVID-19 prevention, and also provide support to counties to train and equip rapid-response teams to investigate cases and conduct contact tracing.
This assistance is made possible through the provision of approximately $4 million for the COVID-19 response, following the appropriation of $1 billion by the United States Congress to help countries across the world respond to the disease.
The COVID-19 specific assistance to Liberia is in addition to the $40 million that USAID provides annually to strengthen the overall Liberian healthcare system.