By Bill W. Cooper
Liberia’s former President, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has commended the Liberian government over its decision to institutionalize the community health workers as first response, something she said was a critical investment then, as it is now, will continue to bear fruit.
She reported that Liberian community health workers deliver close to half of all reported malaria treatments of children fewer than 5, noting that during the COVID-19 pandemic, there was no declaim of the provision of health services.
She stressed, “Since then remarkable progress has been made, not only in Liberia but across Africa. However, we should not fall into the complacency for a work done; a long journey remains ahead of us.”
Delivering the keynote address at the official kickoff of the ongoing Community Health Workers (CHW) symposium at the Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf Ministerial Complex in Congo Town, the former Head of state also stressed the need for government to prioritize CHW programs through the national budget.
“In many countries community health workers have been underpaid; therefore community health workers cannot be an afterthought during budget and policy discussions and as such, they cannot continue to be the last one to be prioritized,” she emphasized.
According to Madam Sirleaf, out of all community health workers in lower and neighboring countries, 1/3 continues to face essential medical struggles, and wondered, “If CHW are always last, how can we ask them to be the first doctor to respond when there is an outbreak?
“It makes population saver resilient and self-sufficient and gives women who are the bedrock of the healthcare systems a rightful recognition, and when we provide our health workers with the right tool support and compensation, they help us turn the tide against infectious diseases and poverty,” she added.
