Great News: Liberia Declared Ebola-free

Today, we join the world in celebrating an end to the Ebola fight by continuing to work in Liberia and empowering communities to build a resilient health care system. We welcome a future for Liberia filled with resiliency, strength and hope.

The deadly Ebola virus shook the world as countries in West Africa and elsewhere, including the United States, grappled with the most complex public health crisis since HIV/AIDS.

The Ebola epidemic claimed the lives of more than 11,300 people and infected over 28,500. The disease devastated the health of families and communities in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

As the outbreak began in March of 2014, PCI was already on the ground in Liberia operating food, nutrition, and health programming that engendered deep ties and established trust in communities through the Office of Peace at the U.S. Agency for International Development.

PCI’s remarkable staff in the country is made up almost entirely of local Liberians, and as the outbreak began in full force, they were given the option to take leave and stay with their families. Without exception, these brave men and women continued their unflagging fight against the epidemic. They knew the risks, but they stayed on the job.

Working with local women’s groups, disaster response committees, schools, and Parent-Teacher Associations, PCI reached thousands of Liberians and helped them separate the myths from the realities of Ebola transmission. And working within Liberia’s public health system decimated from years of civil war, we partnered with the Ministry of Health to train hospital and clinical workers and to deliver desperately needed personal protective equipment from hazmat suits and latex gloves to hand sanitizer and bleach.

Last October, PCI Liberia celebrated an incredible milestone: the closing of our Ebola Treatment Unit (ETU) in Ganta, Nimba County. The goal was to slow the spread of the Ebola virus through Nimba County, isolate existing cases, provide high-quality medical care, and support ongoing outreach programs in the community.

PCI Liberia’s commitment to support the Nimba County health team never wavered. Over 2,300 people were screened for Ebola and the ETU directly and indirectly benefited over 200,000 people in the region. The team’s compassion and hope lifted the spirits of the survivors and the community, while also working hard to dispel myths about Ebola, an issue that affected the welcoming of survivors back into their homes.

Learn more about our Ebola Response in Liberia since the beginning of the outbreak:

• Surviving Ebola: A Resilient and Hopeful Future for Liberia
• Striving for An Ebola-free Future
• To Liberia, Ebola-free
• One Year with Ebola in Liberia
• Love Letter to Liberia: One Doctor’s Experience Battling Ebola on the Ground
• Ebola Science, Tragedy and Hope Learned from the CDC
• Time Magazine Names the Ebola Fighter its 2014 Person of the Year
• A Little Boy Gives Us Hope in Liberia
• Dealing with Ebola Up Close and Personal
• From our Backyard to Liberia’s: PCI Sends Protective Gear to Combat Ebola
• The Latest from Liberia on the Ebola Outbreak
• From the Frontlines of the Ebola Outbreak in Liberia