MONROVIA — Senator Daniel Flomo Naatehn of Gbarpolu County has died. Reports indicate that he breathed his last in India while undergoing medical treatment.

Senator Naatehn, who held the position of chairman on the Senate Committee on Transport, was seeking re-election on October 10, 2023. His untimely demise comes just after completing his second term in the Senate as the representative of Gbarpolu County. Additionally, he held the esteemed role of Chairperson within the opposition Alternative National Congress, led by Mr. Alexander Cummings.

Alfred Johnson, the Senate Press Director, confirmed the senator’s passing. However, the Senate will issue an official statement regarding this tragic news at a later time.

The late Senator Naatehn dedicated an impressive 17 years to the Liberian Senate, beginning during the intermediate arrangement period.

Our thoughts and condolences go out to his family, friends, constituents, and colleagues during this difficult time.

MONROVIA – The novel coronavirus has hit Gbarpolu County, one of the most impoverished counties in Liberia, with at least two confirmed cases so far.

Five new cases were reported on May 9 – three were from Montserrado County, the hardest hit county with 180 confirmed cases representing 88.2 percent of the confirmed cases in the country.

Gbarpolu is the first county in western Liberia to report cases of COVID-19.

Since March 16 -May 9, 2020, a total of 1,330 suspected and probable cases have been reported across 13 counties of that number, 204 have been confirmed as COVID-19 positive including 35 health workers.

The Minister of Health Dr. Wilhemina Jalah, boasts of only a single death in 14 Military treatment center and continues to encourage citizens showing signs of the virus to show up early for treatment. The health authorities report that at least 20 persons including two health workers have died of COVID-19 in Liberia.

According to the COVID-19 situation report, Liberia has begun the testing of community dead bodies of which 12 of the community deaths have tested positive for COVID-19.

According to health authorities, the risk of transmission remains very high largely due to high population movements in Montserrado as the county is home to approximately 1,500,000 (1/3) of the country total population while local transmission mainly from contacts of confirmed cases has accounted for about 98% of the cases.

Inadequate financial and logistical resources for response activities remains the major challenge to the COVID-19 fight in Liberia, according to health authorities.

Gbarpolu County – Citizens of Gbarpolu County in Western Liberia have extolled the National Oil Company of Liberia (NOCAL) for development projects undertaken in their county.

NOCAL has several, current projects in the county that are being implemented by local nongovernmental organizations.  NOCAL received the funds from TGS NOPEC.  

They include two units of a modern latrine – one at Bopolu Central High and other at the Gbonkuma Women Daycare School — and one unit of a four-classroom building  at the Bombomma Elementary School,  a maternal and child health facility in Bombomma, and a five classroom resource center in Sappimah.

NOCAL is also sponsoring a midwifery project in the county, funded by ExxonMobil.

“These projects are very, very laudable,” Gbarpolu County Superintendent Armah Sarnor told FrontPageAfrica in a recent interview.

Regarding the resource center in Sappimah, Superintendent Sarnor said the project was timely as there is a great for more investment in the education sector of the county.

There are just two high schools in the county, with a strong need for more teachers’ trainings for better results in the West African Examination Council (WAEC) exams.

“I am sure that these students are performing below the line not because they want to,” Superintendent Sarnor said.

“Circumstances have forced them to perform below the line.

“A resource center will help our students to improve their reading culture; it will help students do their research. It will help take the education system from a ‘mess’ to another level,” he added.

“We should appreciate that NOCAL could intervene.”

“Do they have reading materials? Are the teachers qualified to teach? I am sure these are things that the government of Liberia is tackling.

The government of Liberia is happy that donors have come to help put the educational system to where it should be.” 

Locals are playing an active role in the construction of these facilities in Gbarpolu.

A team of staff of NOCAL—Public Education Officer Ambulah Mamey, CSR Lead Sharon George, Finance Assistant Boakai Sirleaf and Project Management Consultant Abraham Paye—recently toured projects in the county and interacted with them.

“I feel great about this project because it is very important to the young people…so that they can be part of the society,” said Marvin Sirleaf, Town Chief of Sappimah.

He is one of the builders on the resource center project, adding that he wanted to see better prepared students from the county ahead of the challenges of the future.

The resource facility is a US$51,360 project NOCAL is funding through the Kids Educational Engagement Project (KEEP).

The Liberian NGO is also initiating several other projects, including skills training for women and girls.”

“The center upon completion will train teachers, students and community people into computer literacy and economic livelihood training for 150 young girls.”

“With power to be produced by solar plates, students are expected to find the services reliable and sustainable.

“There is a great need here as with many other counties,” said Brenda Brewer Moore, the Founder of KEEP in an interview. She added: “I feel that there is even a greater need here in the county.”

“The county has been ranked very low on the education ladder. You have poor performance of the students in WAEC. “

“Even if you call a student who is in the eleventh grade and say read a sixth grader book, you will see how he or she will struggle to read.”

“We need to promote activities that encourage students, children to read, and the first step to doing that is to provide them a space where they can access books to actually read.”

Madam Moore also piled praises on NOCAL for sponsoring the resource center project as well as lauded the local authorities for their support.

“I am saying thank you for this, but I think they shouldn’t stop there.”

“There is much more that can be done,” she said.

“We’re appreciative of the support, which is going to make it possible.”

“Probably, without their help we would have taken a much longer time to do this. They helped us make it possible in the shortest period of time,” she added.

“We have not had any difficulty with the county authorities, they’re very supportive.” 

Gbarpolu County – At 19, Joseph Momah has two women pregnant and another with a young baby. Between 2011 and 2013 he worked on several artisanal mines, digging, washing and sieving for gold and diamonds in his native Gbarpolu County.

Report by James Harding Giahyue – jamesgiahyue@gmail.com

He saved enough money to buy a motorcycle and now he is a motorcyclist. He has never sat in a classroom. 

“I wanted money to buy bike,” Momah says. “

“What I wanted my parents were not able to give to me.”

There are many young people who share Momah’s story. They forgo classrooms for mines, a situation local authorities say is alarming.

“It is true that children of school-going ages are going to find money in the mining environment,” says Zinnah A’demtus, District Education Officer (DEO) of Bokomu District, home to several mines, including Jungle James and the Belekpalamu mines.

“It is the situation of Bokomu District in Gbarpolu County.  It has some negative impacts on the education system of the district and the county.” 

Everyone in Gbarpolu is a miner or knows something about mining, A’demtus says. The western county has one of Liberia’s most artisanal mining activities; with 194 active artisanal mining license holders, according to the Ministry of Lands, Mines and Energy. 

Gbarpolu County has one of the lowest school enrollments of the 15 counties in Liberia, according to the Ministry of Education. Local authorities are finding solutions to that problem with a string of strategies, including outreach.

But results have not been forthcoming. Authorities say the allure of mining is to blame.

“It (mining) has a great impact. There you find the drugs. When the children take the drugs, they are eager to get money, so it is difficult to get children from there to go to school,” says Olu Nangbah, District Commissioner of Bopolu District.

He says Bopolu District has two mining agencies and at least 85 Class “C” license holders across the district, as well as and one Class “B” license holder and an exploration company. Class “C” licenses are the very cheapest licenses given to those doing very small-scale (artisanal) alluvial mining. Class “B” also involves artisanal mining but with the use of machines.

By the Liberia Minerals and Mining Law, a Class “C” license holder can mine on up to 25 acres of land. The law also provides that one Class “C” license holder hold up to five licenses. 

“They (young people) tell you that ‘I don’t have money and I come here to get money to go back to school’, and in the process of looking for money, they are hooked by the money they get from the field,” Nangbah says.

“The district education office along with the Ministry of Internal Affairs… has toured several parts of this county,” says DEO A’demtus of Bokomu.”

“We had meetings with elders…and we told them the need for the children to go back to the classroom but a good number of our parents are illiterate and the value of education is not there.”

He says parents themselves are carried away by the little their children get from the mines.

People in Gbarpolu are left with little or no alternative. Unlike its neighbors Bomi and Grand Cape Mount, where there are concessioners such as Western Cluster and Sime Darby that provide hundreds of jobs, Gbarpolu has no big mining operations.

Several communities are currently seeking community forest status, frustrated over unfulfilled promises made by logging companies. Forestry status would allow them to benefit more from their forest resources.

And for some youth it is not just the choice of forgoing the brighter future that education promises for the quick treasures of a goldmine.

For many it is literally a choice between living or starving. There are no other real opportunities. At the mine they can earn up to L$1,000 per day.

Sheriff Kumbah, 22, who mines in Company Camp in Guonwolalai District, says mining puts food on his table and a roof over his head.

“All of my people died so I had to help myself,” says the father-of-three high school dropout. 

Kumbah’s story is not dissimilar to that of Morris Fofana, 28.

A father of one, who has worked as a miner since he was eight, has never been to school. The same can be said about Junior Walker, 22-year-old first grader, who came from Marbigi County two years ago.

A team of New Narratives reporters witnessed children of school-going ages working on several mines in Gbarpolu County. Some were working alongside their parents.

A boy of 12 or 13 years put moist earth with a shovel on a slanted stage lined with rugs while his mother washed and sieved for gold at the Point-Point goldmine in Henry Town. 

On the other end, a boy of roughly the same age carried a bag and bucket filled with earth on his head and in his hand.  

“This work is a hard,” says 16-year-old Fanta Diallo (not her real name), who pounds rocks with many elderly women at Duwor Field mines in Bopolu.  “After beating it, my whole back can be sour but I can’t leave it because I have nobody to help me.”

She had just come to the mine a month ago. She is in second grade and last attended the Henry Town Public School.

Her father left for Guinea, leaving her mother pregnant, so she has to work to assist her mother.

She plans to save the proceeds of her daily earnings and go back to school. 

The Liberian Mineral and Mining Law is silent on child labor, though the law prohibits anyone less than 18 from holding a mining license and the country signed up the UN Convention on Rights of the Child. 

However, many mines allow children of school-going ages to carry out hard labor.

“Children under 18 years… do not have the right to mining, to operate in a mining area,” affirms James Kaybe Smith, Chief Mining Engineer with the Ministry of Lands, Mines and Energy.

A boy works with a shovel with a woman at the Point-Point goldfield in Henry Town, Gbarpolu County

“People are violating our laws; they are doing this in their own favor.”

“The Ministry of Lands, Mines and Energy does not encourage any child [to mine]. We are totally against children in the mines.” 

Smith says the ministry faces logistical constraints that make it difficult to regulate and monitor mines countrywide.

Mines are not properly monitored and regulated despite an exhaustive chain of command that features a regional coordinator, county coordinator, mining agent, mining inspector, patrolman and mining chairman.

“We have some hindrances in our capacity, I can admit to you,” Smith concedes.

“Getting to places on time for our people is a problem. That is a major problem we have with the ministry.”

“The mining agents have to get to mining areas [that are] three-to-four-hour walk. That means he has to take the whole day there. He does not have motorcycle to take him there. 

“If you ask the government now, we’ve got constrains, we’ve got a budget shortfall.” 

Authorities at the Ministry of Labor recommend that Liberia should add child labor to a list of hazardous works and formulate a law on children to add to the broad Labor Code on 2015, which prohibits child labor in any workplaces and encourages children to be in school. Liberia does not have a law on child labor.  

Sixty two percent of school-going children in Liberia miss out on a primary education, the highest in the world, according to the UNICEF in its first out-of-school rankings released in September 2016.

That means school enrollment in Liberia is worse than conflict-ravaged countries like South Sudan (59 percent) and Afghanistan (45 percent).

The Liberian government has been grappling with getting children go to school, despite a law mandating free and compulsory primary education in public schools.

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in her last State of the Nation Address in January—elections for a new president will be held in October this year—pronounced free and compulsory secondary education in public schools beginning the 2017/2018 school year.

But civil society actors say such policy is not workable.

“Even the free and compulsory education…is not very effective,” charges Anderson Miamen of the Center for Transparency and Accountability (CENTAL).

“Some children are still out of school. Some students in rural communities are not in school either because there is no nearby school or their parents cannot send them to school. To come and talk about secondary education being free when the primary component hasn’t been implemented fully, to us is unrealistic.”

For Morris Sheriff, a gold and diamond broker in Grand Gedeh County, getting young people from mines to the classroom is not just the responsibility of government, but all stakeholders.  

He recommends that mining stakeholders build schools in mining communities and even assist with payment of teachers. 

“I hold a Class ‘C’ license and [my colleagues and I] built a school for the children of our workers in Sinoe County,” Sheriff, also a miner, recalls.  

This story was produced by FrontPageAfrica. It was written as part of a media skills development program run by the Thomson Reuters Foundation and New Narratives, and funded by the German Cooperation. The funder had no influence on the story’s content.

Medina, Gbapolu County – President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf on Wednesday, February 8, 2017 dedicated the Gbapolu County Service Center – urging citizens and residents of Gbapolu County to maintain, protect, and make use of the County Service Center.

The President promised that her government will continue to do everything to decentralize governance and bring it closer to the people. President Sirleaf acknowledged the tremendous progress already made by her administration but said there was still a long way to go.

According to an Executive Mansion release, President Sirleaf made the statement before a huge turnout of citizens and residents during an interactive Town Hall Meeting in Medina, Gbapolu County on Wednesday, February 8 2017, when she officially opened the Gbapolu County Service Center and Immigration Post aimed at addressing the needs of its people by being more inclusive in governance, service-oriented and economically participatory.

Prior the dedicatory ceremony, President Sirleaf made several stops along the route to Bopolu City, Gbapolu County during which she was welcomed by the citizens of Gbapolu County including chiefs, students, women, men, children, and cultural dancers among others who lined the route to pay their respect to the Liberian leader.

She interacted with the people and distributed assorted food and non-food items to citizens and residents with a view to identifying with some of their basic needs.

During her several stops in villages and towns, the Liberian leader received the traditional kola nuts and was officially welcomed to Gbapolu by chiefs, women, students, traditional midwives, elders, traditional leaders and youth.

President Sirleaf also received a position statement from students of Bopolu High School, which among other things appealed to President Sirleaf to investigate the issue of “Bamboo”, because according to them, there has been massive reduction of students in various schools thus causing serious embracement to schools in the district.

The Liberian Leader expressed appreciation to partners, citizens and local authorities for their support and efforts to the County Service Center and for helping to maintain 11 years of uninterrupted peace.

According her many people cannot see the change in the country because many of them have not been in the countryside.  

She said: “If you did not keep the peace in the church, mosque, school, market place, associations, office, we will not be where we are now. So I want to thank you for being good and responsible citizens” she said.

The Liberian leader used the occasion to inform the women of Gbapolu County about this year’s International Women’s Day, which is slated to place on March 8, 2017 in Monrovia. She said it will be her last celebration of International Women’s Day as a sitting President and as such, they must be in attendance to grace the occasion.

She praised the women of Liberia for their courage and vigilance, over the last few years nothing, “Nobody can turn back women; you do not have the power to turn back or change their lives for the worst; the world has changed” she said.

She lauded the citizens and residents for providing support for the Service Center and other developments in the county. She told citizens and residents to be good citizens that Liberia can be proud off.

In a related development, President Sirleaf was certificated by group of rural women for her dedicated services to women issues in Liberia and for here outstanding leadership demonstrated over the years in giving women voice to speak and for promoting women’s rights.

She pledged government’s commitment to fixing the road leading in to Gbapolu but was quick to note that the rainy season is the problem to many of our roads although her government is looking into it. She however promised to donate an ambulance to meet the health needs of the people of Gbapolu County.

Speaking earlier, Pro-Temp Armah Zulu Jallah, County Superintendent, Armah Sannoh, youth leader, women and disabled community commended President Sirleaf for the level of development that have taken place in Gbapolu since her ascendency as President of Liberia.

They named the newly dedicated County Service Center, women empowerment, the Belle Yella road, the establishment of modern school, agriculture activities, freedom of speech and press.

Gbarpolu County – A UK-based organization, Life for African Mothers (LFAM) on Friday January 20, 2017 completed the training of 24 midwives in Bopulu, Gbarpolu County.

Report by Momoh B. Siryon, Bopulu, Gbarpolu County

The training marked the beginning of several trainings expected to take place in the rural counties.

“We at Life for African Mothers are pleased to let the public know that we have started our training workshops in the rural counties, beginning with Gbarpolu County. We have successfully trained all midwives in Gbarpolu County.

The two workshops were delivered by a team of three UK midwives in persons of Tracy Reynolds, Fiona Chinneck, and Vanessa Smith,” LFAM Country Director Abdul-ranham Bah said.

Mr. Bah commended the Gbarpolu County health team along with all the attending midwives who made the workshop a success.

LFAM boss acknowledged the National Oil Company of Liberia (NOCAL) for the funding, stating without them, “this project would not be possible”.

According to him, the sponsorship of NOCAL was vital in improving the skills of midwives in Liberia, which he believed will minimize deaths at birth in the country.

Also speaking, the LFAM Consultant Helen Loewenstein lauded the NOCAL for continued support and applauded the midwives who traveled from distances to acquire the needed education to enable them perform their duty professionally. 

However, she said, “the organization`s aim is to share lifesaving skills in obstetric and maternity care in an effort to reduce maternal mortality in Liberia.

She noted that midwives in Liberia face some of the world most challenging conditions and they deserve recognition and admiration for their difficult work in the face of such difficulties.

“Every woman has the right to a safe birth and we hope that by using and sharing the skills the midwives have learnt, the lives of many women and babies will be saved,” she said.

Also speaking, NOCAL Education Officer, Ambulah Mamey said maternal mortality is unacceptable, which encouraged NOCAL to get in partnership with Life for African Mothers (LFAM) to provide the necessary skills for midwives in order to save the lives of mothers and their kids at birth.

Mr. Mamey disclosed that the partnership is targeting 508 midwives in six counties, with Montserrado and Gbarpolu already completed.

Gbarpolu County – It was an interesting gathering for locals and health workers at the only public clinic in Gbarngay Town, Gbarpolu County.

The Gbarngay Town clinic in Bokomu district delivers health services to over 12,300 catchment population, but on this occasion, it hosted the county’s quarterly health review meeting.

The event reviewed health care activities of the county between July and September 2016, and was conducted by the Gbarpolu County Health System on December 17.

Over 35 health workers, partners and local authorities attended the meeting.

The participants included representatives of health facilities, the county health team, five district health officers, five surveillance officers, partners and local authorities of Bokomu district. 

“This meeting is all about bringing our health facility staffs together, especially our OICs because we want to see what they have done in their facility for the period,” said County Health Officer (CHO), Dr. Anthony Tucker.

Dr. Tucker said the activity was part of the County health team’s delivery system which help all parties understand the current state of health programs, identify gaps, share success stories from clinicians and development strategies to improve the service delivery system.

Following the overview, clinicians or OICs presented on behalf of their individual health facility. In all their presentations, the OICs highlighted success stories, challenges and recommendations.  

The OIC of Gbarngay Clinic, Joshua Toweh, said community dwellers usually help them clean around the health facility and also they attend all meetings meant to create and promote healthy life messages to the community. 

Conducted by certified midwives, vaccinators and OICs, the outreach basically helps increase the health services delivery by promoting vaccination campaigns, health messages and also take health services to the door steps of locals in hard-to-reach areas in the county.

From all the 15 health facilities presentations, 126 outreaches were conducted which help increased the county health team’s target. The immunization report showed that 798 to 929 children under the age one were vaccinated during the quarter.

Good Signal for Maternal Health

Birth delivery target was never met, according to the data management stats presented by Clarence Kollie, but the good news according to Kollie, there was no death during the period. Kollie projected that 531 was set as target, but 403 were achieved.

This means, from July to September this year, 403 pregnant women gave birth successfully at health facilities in Gbarpolu County, something he described as a “good sign for maternal health of women in Gbarpolu”.

Constraints Linger

For the constraints, some OICs complained about the lack of cell phone network in their area of assignment.

Massa Massaquoi, OIC of Kungbor Clinic said “Lack of network is our usual major problem”.  According to the clinician, as the result of this specimens that are collected cannot be delivered some time. 

Nearly all the OICs expressed concerns over the continual delay of logistical supplies for the holding of outreach programs in the county. 

 “I did not receive gasoline for outreach so I was able to do seven outreaches at my own expenses,” complained Anthony Tamba, OIC of Kondensu Clinic in Belle district. 

Massaquoi also suggested: “I think the number of outreach activities should be increased from the basis of what we have achieved this quarter”.

Nearly all the clinicians recommended the timely supply of medical and non-medical materials to enable them carry out effective and efficient work at their various facilities.

In response to the clinicians’ presentations, the CHO of Gbarpolu said the meeting prioritizes “Knowing the status of health services in the county to ensure urgent intervention for people in the county”.

Dr. Tucker thanked the health workers and encouraged them to keep providing health services.  He urged the logistical and pharmacy departments of the county health team to respond timely to the requisitions from district officers and OICs.

Communities Excited by Meeting’s Outcome

Community members have hailed the meeting and termed it as the county health team’s surprise Christmas gift.

Peter Sumo, a resident of the Gbarngay Town said: “This is the first time to see our big doctors them (doctors) come to this clinic”. Sumo believes the visit of the health workers will help the staff at the clinic improve services rendered to them.

Mr. Sumo noted: “I think this kind of meeting will make us too, as citizens, know our rights and wrongs and even our health workers too”.

Also, Yassah Tokpa, a female resident of the Gbarngay catchment communities, said the county health team meeting at their clinic serves as a motivation for the community to take ownership of the clinic and seek medical advice always.

“This tell us that our health workers here are working good (well), and we need to be respecting them and be coming to this clinic when we are sick for medicine,” Yassah said.

Many residents are happy with the decentralized health implementation activities in the county.

Otis Tokpa, a motorcyclist from Gbalakpalamu town, who also attended the meeting, said the meeting was fruitful giving that clinicians were able to voice out their concerns.

He said the event placed the county health authority under pressure to respond timely to some of the challenges. 

“This will help all of us,” Tokpa said, continuing, “This health issue is everybody business”.

The next health quarterly review meeting will be hosted by Yangayah health facility located in Gbarma health district.

Editor’s Note: This story was written in collaboration with Local Voices Liberia, a network of Liberian reporters in the 15 counties working to report underreported stories in their respective counties. Reporting by: Henry Gboluma, Gbarpolu County.

Gbarpolu County – Two cases of Schistosmiasis, a disease also known as snail fever, has been confirmed at the Chief Jallah Lone Medical Hospital in Bopolu City, Gbarpolu County.

The cases were discovered in Forkpa Town, Bokomu District before being confirmed at the major hospital in the county. Over seven communities are affected in Bokomu District.

Gbarpolu County Health Team medical diagnosis done on several people in Bokomu health district show 327 individuals were examined for Schistosomiasis in three towns.

County Health Officer (CHO), Dr. Anthony Tucker, said snail fever was first diagnosed in September this year.

The CHO said a surveillance team was sent investigate the situation and reported that there were lots of people presenting the symptoms. 

“We went on an outreach in that area and we were able to diagnosed 327 schistose and immediately administered a single dose of Praziquantel tablet to reduce the severity of the symptom,” Dr. Tucker said. 

The disease symptoms are painful or bloody urination, abdominal pain, and bloody diarrhea. While anemia or low blood, malnutrition and learning disabilities can also be developed in children with repeated cases of the infection.

The parasite schistosoma is transmitted by contact with contaminated fresh water occupied by snails carrying the parasite.

Many kids who swim, bath and fish in contaminated water in the area are at risk of contracting the disease.

Some of these parasites are trapped in the body and cause damage to internal organs, which can contribute to loss of life. 

The US Center for Disease Control labeled the disease as the most deadly Neglected Tropical Disease (NTD), which has killed more than 200,000 people each year in Africa.

In Gbarpolu County, the disease has become a health concern in communities and affected families are asking for government and partners support to keep out the tropical disease in their areas.

According to locals, the lack of basic sanitation facilities and save drinking water is making the disease to thrive in the region.

Others say the lacks of regular awareness about some preventable diseases is a major cause of the snail fever and other diseases in the area.

Other are asking for safe drinking water and supports to enable them build their own latrines. 

Morris Cole, a resident of Forkpa Town said the situation is beyond their control.

“Once we do not have good water, our children will continue to suffered because they are always bathing in the river and other water that are not running,” Cole said.

“The only way this worm business can stop is for government to help us now.”

There’s only one public clinic in the district and due to its location, locals of Forkpa, Gbarng-gborke, Belle Yallah, Sakkpadeh, Gungbeta and Torlekala Towns have to rely on a private clinic in the area.

Alice David, a resident of Gbarnga-gborke Town said: “This clinic here charges us more money to give tablets to our children. As a result we are suffering here, so we need government to help us with clinic.”

Another mother, Mary Flomo of Torlekalah Town said: “Some time when you go to the clinic and you don’t have money, the nurses cannot take care of your child.”

“My son was short of blood, according to the clinic people, because there was no money, so he died on the road when we try carrying him on a bike to the hospital.” 

A nurse, Harris Mulbah of the privately run Sis. D. Medical Clinic in Gbarnga-gborke Town, said providing subsidy to the clinic would enable it deliver adequate and affordable health services. Mulbah said when the Snail fever was discovered; they immediately contacted the county health team that made some intervention by treating infected children.

“Those that have it (snail fever) were many; they were not able to treat everybody,” he said, adding that people are still going to the clinic with same problem.

“We don’t have some of the medicine here, so we can give them antibiotic and referred them.”

The lack of ambulance to refer patients with complicated cases is another challenge in the area and Mulbah says “Some death has occurred while families endeavored to carry their relatives to the only referral hospital on motor bikes.”

Government’s Intervention

The County Surveillance Officer (CSO) of Gbarpolu, Augustus Alfred said partners of the health team have provided Praziquantel medicine, which is the primary type of treatment for Schistosomasis.

Alfred said upon the availability of funds, the county health team would do a mass distribution of drugs by giving a single dose of praziquante to people that presenting symptoms of the parasite to reduce the severity of the subsequent re-infection.

“We are currently doing health education campaign about the risks of getting infected by bathing and fishing in fresh running water as well as stagnant water,” Alfred said.

Editor’s Note: This story was written in collaboration with Local Voices Liberia media network. Local Voices is a network of Liberian journalists from across the 15 counties working to lift stories that are underreported by using its platform www.localvoicesliberia.com

Gbarpolu County – Health care delivery in Liberia was weakened by the EVD outbreak in 2014, exposing major gaps and for now, the health system is being reformed by the government and its partners with collaboration from communities to ensure the implementation of a 10 year government investment plan, aimed at making Liberia’s health sector resilient.

However, health workers in Gbarpolu County are still concerned about limited lodging facilities for them in the county.

“Health workers are lodged in buildings own by local chiefs which are they say ‘are not even up to local standard’.

Speaking to LocalVoicesLiberia reporter in Gbarpolu, Maude K. Kerkula, a registered midwife assigned at the Bambuma Town clinic said upon taking assignment at various facilities in rural areas, they were accommodated by town chiefs for more than two months and were left to fetch dwelling places for themselves.

“We ourselves can look for place to stop and now the place I am stopping is a death trap for me,” she said.

“As a result I can only come here to eat and go back and sleep [in] the delivery room at the clinic.”

Maude has worked for Gbarpolu County health team for six years, dedicating her service to saving lives but she’s now seeking a better lodging facility and complained that promises by the community to recondition the building are all to no avail.

Gbaryama Clinic OIC, Elizabeth Samukai, complains that community dwellers are showing little support for health workers in their area, adding that some nurses assigned at the clinic are struggling for accommodation.

“This poses serious challenge to encouraging health workers in rural areas and also affects their income monthly and this is unbearable,” Samukai said.

Some health workers are now lodging at the county’s administrative building where the district commissioner administers the affairs of Gbarma district.

And health workers say since the building is used as venue for public meetings and workshops, it is not favorable to be used as residence for them.

Pathway to Resilient Health Plan

The County Health Officer, Dr. Anthony Tucker, has reassured his commitment to implementing national government’s investment plans which aim at improving the health services for Liberians.

Dr. Tucker said by implementing the resilient health plan, it will enhance the management and strengthening of the health sector and ensure the workforce efficiently provide quality services that are equitable and accessible for all.

The CHO said they are currently carrying out projects intended to attract health workers to the rural health facilities by providing infrastructure designed to suit the health workforce.

 “We are constructing six staff quarters because you have people who come from various areas to work in the county and they go to various community and rent or [are] living in a structure that are not too conducive for them,” Dr. Tucker said.

“The staff quarter is a community project, we are just supporting them and the community people are committed to the construction works.”

He disclosed that two of the staff quarters are located in Gbarma District, two in Belle, two in Bopolu and one in Guo-nwolalai District. “By December, we hope to dedicate these buildings to help ease some of the difficulties nurse face in those areas”, he said. 

He named road network as a major challenges to the supply chain but assured the people of Gbarpolu that with their integration, the project will be successful on time.

Bopolu Commissioner, Olu Nangba, said the project has been welcomed by the community, despite frequent complaints from health workers about how they are being treated by these locals.

Nangba said the communities are providing local materials including crush rocks, sand, land and manpower. He also disclosed that some of the staffs in Henry Town clinic are ranting.

“The money they (nurses) are making is nothing.” He said citizens of the county in the project communities will work hard for it to be completed within the required time.

The community health development committee chairman (CHDC) Bammu P. Zinnah, said the community has always wished for taking the lead to build homes the nurses.

He said during the process of getting his people’s support, they were informed by the CHT to build nurses quarters and needed local support.

He described the project as timely and a dream come true, while calling for the total involvement of the community people and complained about the deplorable condition of the building that is hosting some nurses in the county.

He thanked the government for the health investment plan and asked the people of the clinic catchment communities to support the project to its completion.

Apart from the nurses’ quarters under construction, Gbarpolu’s health infrastructure includes 15 government’s owned clinics and a private one. These health facilities render health care services to over 97,600 people of the county.

The fifteen (15) facilities are supported through a pool fund along the referral hospital which is located in Bopolu City.

Editor’s Note: This story was written in collaboration with Local Voices Liberia. Local Voices Liberia is network of Liberian journalists working in the 15 counties working to report stories that are underreported. To read more stories from the counties log in to our website: www.localvoicesliberia.com

Gbarpolu County – Kongbor is a small town surrounding by forest and the road leading to the town is greeted by bad roads and broken bridges, with a visit it evident that this part of Liberia is lacking behind in term of opportunity and development.

People have to travel miles by feet to carried information from one town or places to another, mobile communication for them is a dream.

The locals of this area are disconnected from the rest of the country, they are not aware of the happenings, their major sources of information about their capital comes from few business people trading between Monrovia and Kongbor.

This community was blessed with a radio station from International Alert but to keep it operational has been a challenge for the people of Kongbor.

If the radio will be on for a day it means the community has to rally around and collect money to support the radio, visiting this station FrontPage learn that is on air due to generosity from a local business woman.

The station is small structure built by stick and mud cover by cement, it has three compartment waiting place, transmitter area and a tight studio.

Lawrence Gbagbah a broadcaster at Kongba radio said, with lack of support the station is frequent on the air waves adding that community radio is the major source of information in that area.

Gbagbah :” no network here to call, so the radio helping in informing people in the district, to have this radio station it one business down the town that bought us one gallon.”

Gbagbah reveal that an international organization has visited the area and promise to help open the station.

The Radio Kongba broadcaster said that announcer on air have to take out shirt to broadcast due to heat in the tight studio.

“We do not have fan or air condition and for God sake look at how small this studio is, we sweat a lot when we are on air but this what we have,” Gbagbah said.

A research conducted by Mercy Corps and IREX finds that community radio provides a critical source of information for the people of Liberia, including in some of the country’s most remote rural areas.

86% of Liberia’s population listen to radio and most prefer community to national radio for news and information. This is because it features local stories, local voices and dialects, the study finds.

“Our research shows that community radio is not only the most prevalent but also the most trusted source of information in Liberia, and is therefore a vital tool for broadening awareness and education on social issues,” says Laura Keenan, Communications Specialist at Mercy Corps Liberia.

From their facial expression one see the desperation in the locals to have their radio station permanently.

A resident Mohammed Swaray said that the radio is helping to inform them about what happen in the town when they are on their farm.

“We are happy that our radio station will be on, we do not have to walk from Kongbor to Camp Alpha to give news (message), the radio can do it,” Swaray.

Swaray said, the radio has been able to provide information in all of the major tribes in the district adding that keeping it on has been the community worry.

The Officer in Charge at the Liberia Media Center Lamii Kpargoi said that community radio should be taken seriously across Liberia adding help they inform more than half of the population.

“Community radios need to be seeing as priority, the community serve 66% of the people, they help inform those people,” Kpargoi said.

The LMC OIC said, that Kongba radio is one of the radio stations located in the remote part of Liberia adding that the community as a border town where there is no communication a radio station is extremely needed.

“Look at Kongba radio the people have struggle with that station there should be budget line for community radio, USAID funding project by Internews will support the radio but what happens after five years?” Kpargoi said.

Kpargoi continues“Going forward the sustainability of Liberia democracy, community radio will make or break our democracy; we have to encourage our partners to support community radio.”

Most of the inhabitants are involved in artisanal mining, hunting and farming for livelihood which invite people from across the country.

The Kongba district is bordering with Sierra Leone, with no security presence, so information is vital in such area.

 “In parts of the country where reliable information is scarce, community radio provides a lifeline to citizens. Stations know the concerns in their communities and are best placed to adapt and relay crucial messages in ways that will be most relevant,” says Colby Pacheco, Project Director for ECAP 2 at IREX Liberia.

The study by Mercy Corps and IREX is the first radio reach survey to have been conducted across all of Liberia’s 15 counties, assessing radio listenership.

It finds that Grand Kru has the lowest radio listenership (44% of the county’s population), followed by Bomi and River Gee (64%). Conversely, listenership in Grand Gedeh, Gbarpolu and Bong reaches close to 100% in all three counties.