Liberia: Senior UN health official urges dispatch of medical supplies to stem crisis

The top United Nations health official today issued an urgent call for the delivery of medical supplies to Liberia, where conflict has already spawned a sharp rise in disease rates.

“Although fighting in the Liberian capital has currently subsided, tens of thousands of men, women and children displaced by the recent fighting are still living in desperate conditions,” said Gro Harlem Brundtland, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO). “Failure to address this situation is compounding Liberia's humanitarian crisis and putting the lives of many thousands of people at risk,” she warned.

More than 97,000 internally displaced Liberians live in temporary camps in and around the capital of Monrovia, where access to clean water, basic sanitary facilities, food and health care is rudimentary at best, according to WHO. Several camps have no health services, and while some hospitals have agreed to offer free treatment, they will soon run out of essential medicines and supplies.

The crisis is compounded by the Liberia's insecurity, which makes movement around Monrovia dangerous, putting health staff at risk as they try to reach those in need of medical care.

“A bad situation is quickly becoming worse,” said Dr. Brundtland. “During this ceasefire, every effort must be made to get medical supplies and food into the country.”

Cholera and other diarrhoeal diseases, measles and malaria are on the increase. WHO reports that since mid-June alone, over 450 people diagnosed with cholera have been admitted to the JFK medical centre in Monrovia. Contaminated water in and around the city is putting thousands more at risk of the disease.

In response, WHO has provided 650 kilograms of chlorine to the Ministry of Health and to non-governmental organizations to launch a mass chlorination of the water supply around Monrovia. It has also provided enough basic health kits to support 7,000 people for a period of three months as well as 4,000 sachets of re-hydration salts and 156 litres of ringer lactate to treat cholera.