Working together to tackle NTDs in Liberia

In the first year of the Ascend West and Central Africa programme, partners have supported health workers and volunteers to deliver mass treatment campaigns to help tackle high rates of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) in Liberia.

The coastal West African country has a high prevalence of neglected tropical diseases like lymphatic filariasis (LF), river blindness (onchocerciasis) and schistosomiasis, and a lot of work is needed to eliminate these diseases in all 15 of Liberia’s counties.

NTDs can become debilitating; cause life-long impairments; and impact on people’s livelihoods, social lives and chances of education. River blindness can lead to irreversible sight loss, LF can result in painful enlargement of body parts, and schistosomiasis can stunt growth if not caught early.

Our most crucial collaborators in the fight against these diseases are health workers and community volunteers. They understand communities’ dynamics and customs, which enables them to diagnose the diseases and deliver treatments (via mass drug administration) to the people who need them the most, in some of the poorest and most remote areas of the country.

The Ascend West and Central Africa programme works with ministries to support the training of health workers and community volunteers who are already part of Liberia’s health system. This helps to strengthen the system long-term, meaning trained staff can carry on working in the health centres and communities once the programme has ended.

There is still a lot of work to do to eliminate these diseases in Liberia; however, a lot has already been achieved in the country in the first year of the programme:

In this region, Mark explains, one of the quickest and easiest ways to give out information is via the radio: “If you do this over radio it reaches many people. Producing jingles in the local languages, outlining some of the signs, the preventative measures, what to do not to get it – I think this is also a key factor.”

More focused, face-to-face efforts are also part of the team’s approach to educating people: “We are using the health facility to give health talks and education on the diseases.”

When the health facility first opened its doors, they had several people a day showing symptoms of river blindness, but Mark notes a positive trend towards elimination. He notes: “Over a period of time we are seeing the number of cases that used to present to our clinics and our health facility have been reduced,” which is a testimony to Mark and his team’s hard work.