The Liberian Government and the World Bank signed US$15M Health Financing Agreement for collaborative disease surveillance and epidemic preparedness in Liberia

According to a Ministry of finance and Development Planning release, the signing of the Regional Disease Surveillance Systems Enhancement (REDISSE2) Project will provide the needed opportunity for Liberia to operationalize lessons learned from the recent disease outbreak in Sinoe County.
Speaking during the signing ceremony, Finance and development Planning Minister Boima Kamara extolled the World Bank Board of Directors for endorsing the usage of the fifteen million dollars to enhance Liberia’s healthcare delivery system.
Minister Kamara indicated that, the Liberian government and people will remain grateful for such intervention, most especially when government is making all necessary strides in ensuring that the health of its people are catered for.
For her part, World Bank Liberia Country Manager extended deepest condolences to the victims and families of the recent disease outbreak in Sinoe, commended the Liberian government and partners for their effective responses to control the transmission.
Madam Larisha Leshchenko noted that the outbreak highlighted both progress made in strengthening surveillance and infection control, and areas where there are still a lot of work, such a laboratory capacity.
“We encourage the World Health Organization, Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Food and Agriculture Organization, and other key partners to work closely with the Ministries of Health and Agriculture, as well as the National Public Health Institute of Liberia to jointly develop, implement and monitor progress of this critical project for the country.”
She also called on government, donor partners and stakeholders to move with diligence and implement this project expeditiously, achieve the desired results and ultimately strengthen and help transform the health system of Liberia.
REDISSE is a regional project that supports so far seven West African countries and West African Health Organization (WAHO) to strengthen collaboration across the 15 ECOWAS countries and build regional surveillance and response capacity. Liberia which has a lot to share to other countries and WAHO, is expected to play a leading role in disease surveillance in the region.