Rebuilding After Catastrophe? A Missed Opportunity for Health and Social Change

A mural encourages parents to vaccinate their children, at the UNICEF-supported Redemption Public Hospital in Monrovia, the capital, in Montserrado County. The county hosts approximately 350 refugees who have fled fighting in Côte d’Ivoire since February 2011. In October 2011, Liberia is still recovering from a ruinous 14-year civil war that ended in 2003. Although the Government is working to rebuild the country’s destroyed infrastructure, many Liberians continue to live without access to basic services. The influx of approximately 178,000 refugees from Côte d'Ivoire, who fled their own country after controversy surrounding the 28 November 2010 presidential election turned violent, has only exacerbated the situation. Waning supplies of safe drinking water and food, inadequate sanitation facilities, constricted access to medical care and overcrowding all threaten the health of Liberian and Ivorian children alike. The education of many children has also been disrupted because refugees stay in schools when there are not enough families to host them. UNICEF supports basic health, nutritional and educational services – as well as the WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) programme – for Liberian and refugee children and their families. Still, the poor condition of roads makes it difficult for such aid to reach remote areas, where many of the most vulnerable families live. As of November 2011, many of the refugees have returned home, but an estimated 138,000 remain in Liberia, continuing to exhaust already limited resources. To continue providing life-saving services through the end of the year, UNICEF still needs US$17 million of the $29 million required by its Emergency Humanitarian Action Plan for Liberia.