OUR PARTNERS
LIBERIA
HOSPITAL PARTNERSHIP PROPOSAL IN LIBERIA
In July 2013, Dr. David A. Jordan (President/CEO, Seven Hills Foundation) and Seven Hills Global Outreach staff traveled to Liberia with Alphonso Daniels (Staff, Seven Hills Community Services and President, KRAO Liberian Association) to explore opportunities for partnership in rural Liberia. The brief trip opened many doors to support enhanced medical infrastructure in Liberia by developing strategic medical partnerships with the 31 hospitals in Liberia. These partner hospitals/institutions could, in turn, support their Liberian hospital counterpart with supplies, personnel, training, finances, and increased capacity. While in Liberia, the team worked with the Mantu Caucus, Ministry of Health, and Dr. Peter Coleman (a Liberian Senator and former Minister of Health) to assess ways in which SHGO and Seven Hills staff could assist in enhancing healthcare in Liberia through hospital partnerships. The team visited three major hospitals as well as various rural programs and outreach efforts.
Should a supportive twinning program be developed between hospitals in Liberia and hospitals in the USA, it is important to SHGO that the goals of this and any collaboration will:
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Align with governmental planning and strategy, and be approved by local officials – most notably, the Ministry of Health and its officers;
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Improve outcomes for rural and underserved women and children;
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Speak to building capacity and lifelong sustainability;
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Be run, owned, and managed locally
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Increase availability and quality of services
HEALTH COMPLEXITIES IN LIBERIA - AT A GLANCE
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Physician density: 0.01 physicians/1,000 population
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Hospital bed density: 0.8 beds/1,000 population
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Maternal mortality rate: 994 deaths/1,000 live birth (7th highest rate in the world)
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Infant mortality rate: 70.93 deaths/1,000 live births (17th highest rate in the world)
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Life expectancy at birth: 57.81 years
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GDP per capita: $700 (est. 2012) Only 37% of birth deliveries take place in a hospital
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Teenage pregnancy: increased from 29% in 2000 to 32% in 2007
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Tuberculosis incidence: 326 per 100,000
Source: www.cia.gov
In 2015, Dr. Jordan - working with local Liberian Diaspora leaders - instigated the establishment of the ‘One Liberia Foundation’ with the intention that Diaspora leaders living in the U.S. from all of the Liberian countries could join together and work as a single, powerful force toward addressing economic, social, health and educational needs throughout Liberia. That effort continues.
OUR PHOTOS FROM LIBERIA
