On Saturday the World Health Organization declared Liberia free of Ebola!
This announcement came 42 days after the safe burial of the last person confirmed to have had the Ebola virus – meeting the official criteria for declaring that human-to-human transmission of the virus has ended.
While more work is needed in Sierra Leone and Guinea before the outbreak of this deadly disease can be declared over, this is great news for Liberia!
Thanks to the generosity of our supporters, ActionAid has been working hard to stop Ebola from spreading. When the outbreak happened, our team in Liberia quickly mobilized their networks to reach the people who needed help most.
We were able to train and support a groups of volunteers who went door-to-door in their communities, showing their family, friends and neighbors how to protect themselves from Ebola.
These amazing groups of people delivered food and hygiene products to people who couldn’t leave their homes; delivered clothing, food and hygiene kits to people leaving Ebola clinics with nothing; and restocked health centers with important materials like soap and rubber gloves.
Even though the outbreak in Liberia has ended, our work won’t stop
We’re continuing to work for greater transparency in how aid money is spent in Liberia, and building women’s leadership so that they can demand better health services to stop deadly diseases like Ebola from spreading.
We put women and their communities at the very center of our work and make a long-term commitment to help local people deliver change themselves – that’s what makes us different.
Right now, our community networks led by women and young volunteers, are working hard to reach people affected by the devastating earthquake in Nepal two weeks ago.
We are responding to people’s urgent needs by providing food, shelter and other support, but are already planning a long-term response. We’ll be working with communities to protect their land rights, so the homes and farms they work hard to rebuild are guaranteed to be theirs. We’ll also be campaigning to make communities safer for women and young girls by making sure they have access to bathrooms and washing facilities where they’re safe from violence and the spread of disease.
This is only possible because of the generosity of people like you. Please make a gift to support the people of Nepal today.
Aid delivered by ActionAid staff to Mahankal village in Nepal. Photo: Srikanth Kolari
A local women’s network supported by ActionAid coordinates an aid delivery. Photo: Prashanth Vishwanathan
