Liberia

Working with a committed government, international funding and Liberian children’s organisations, we can measure the difference in lives saved.

• More than 200,000 mothers and children visited health clinics in 2010 because of the government’s decision – due in part to our advocacy and the example we set in the clinics we support – to abolish user fees and make healthcare free for mothers and under-fives.
• President Ellen Sirleaf-Johnson and 10,000 Liberians launched our EVERY ONE campaign to save children’s lives.
• In 2010, we helped 143,000 children – with better healthcare, nutrition, education and protection from violence, abuse and abduction.

The challenges

Liberia is one of the poorest countries in the world. At US$190, its annual per capita GNP is roughly the equivalent of a dinner for four at a posh restaurant in a major capital city.

Nearly half the population lives in extreme poverty. Only a small minority of families has clean water or sanitation. The country is in ruins after years of civil war and child mortality is frighteningly high – every hour, two children die.

Are the problems so profound that nothing can be done? No. The right on-the-ground services, coupled with strong campaigning in Liberia and internationally, are having a real impact.

What have we achieved?

“There’s no running water in most parts of the country. There aren’t even enough beds or drugs.”

That was the story from a nurse in our Kingsville clinic just a year ago. Now, thanks to funds from a Sunday Times appeal, we’ve provided better healthcare for 22,000 people in Kingsville.

Visit the clinic. This is just one example of how we’re saving children’s lives with simple, cheap solutions.

As part of our EVERY ONE campaign:  

• We reached 180,000 children with health and hunger programmes in 2010. We constructed and refurbished 15 clinics, installing solar panels to power the lighting needed to allow women to give birth safely at night.
• We lobbied for an end to health fees and, through our work in 21 clinics, demonstrated the difference free healthcare could make. In 2010 President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf recommitted her government to free healthcare for mothers and children under five.
• President Johnson-Sirleaf became champion for our EVERY ONE campaign, speaking out for free healthcare at the African Union meeting and the World Health Assembly in May.

Stopping the worst

The fall-out from Liberia’s civil war is a climate of violence against children. Rape, teenage pregnancy, prostitution, hazardous labour and trafficking are very real threats.

We are working with the government to monitor orphanages and to improve care standards. We’ve been instrumental in drafting the children’s bill that’s now before the Senate to provide a legal framework for children’s rights. A policy of discouraging the placement of children in institutions has been adopted by the department of social welfare – a clear triumph for our advocacy work.

Top class

More than 3,000 children like Enjem, pictured above, got into school for the very first time in 2010. Another 43,000 received a better quality education. Kingsville gained a new six-roomed primary school for 500 children – one of the biggest and best-equipped schools in Bong County.

We launched our Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) initiative, building and operating three centres to help young mothers continue their education by taking care of their child while they study.

On the run

Violence in the Ivory Coast drove more than a million children from their homes at the end of 2010 and early 2011. They fled, often on foot, usually without food, clothing or the protection of adults. Some were attacked, others saw their parents killed.

More than 180,000 people crossed the border into Liberia. Working in host communities and the Bahn camp in the northeast of Liberia we traced missing children and reunited them with their parents. We helped children come to terms with their experiences and worked to make sure they could continue their education.

Please make a donation to our Ivory Coast appeal today to help children caught up in the crisis.

What’s urgent

We aim to provide free, quality healthcare for 284,000 children, young people and pregnant women by the end of 2011 – helping even more children to survive.

We want to see children protected in their communities and out of hazardous labour. We want to give more children the chance to go to school.

Support our work by donating today