Ellen meets AmericCares delegation

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf met a delegation of the United States – charity group, AmeriCares headed by its chief executive officer and president, Mr. Michael Nyenhuis.

Other members of the delegation included Vice President, Global Partners, Mr. Garett Ingoglia; County Director, AmeriCares, Mr. David Prettyman; and Gifts-in-Kind Coordinator, Ms. Masmina Sirleaf.

According to an Executive Mansion release, at the meeting at the Foreign Ministry, President Sirleaf commended AmeriCares for its work in Liberia mainly around the Ebola period. She named the provision of medical equipment and drugs, as well as the provision of services to crucial health facilities as key interventions made by the group during the Ebola crisis.

She reminded the visiting AmeriCares delegation that the country was moving quickly from treatment to sustainable infection control health system and requested that the group’s intervention must be aligned with and reflected in the healthcare program being developed by the government through the Ministry of Health. “Sending help to countries in crisis is a very good thing, but it is sometimes important to be on the ground. This is exactly what AmeriCares has done in Liberia,” the Liberian leader stressed.

In remarks earlier, the chief executive officer of AmeriCares, Mr. Michael Nyenhuis, expressed gratefulness for being able to work with the Health Ministry during a critical time in the country’s history.

He pointed out that just over a year ago, AmeriCares identified Liberia as an operational area because of the great potential of the country, the credible and effective leadership of President Sirleaf and the compelling needs of the Liberian people.

“In the next few months,” he said, “AmeriCares work will be focused mainly in Grand Bassa County where assistance will be targeted at upgrading the Government run hospital in Buchanan, support maternal child health and ensure protection and safety of healthcare workers.”

He told President Sirleaf further that the group is about to assess schools in Grand Bassa to make interventions in the water and sanitation situation as schools are about to re-open in Liberia. He also advised that ETUs constructed around the country remind intact until the Ebola crisis in Liberia is declared over by the relevant professional bodies.

“With many of the trained ETU workers now available with less work to be done, we intend to deploy them as mobile health workers to provide services to rural communities where the need for regular healthcare services may be important,” Mr. Nyenhuis pointed out.