We opened our paediatric hospital – Barnesville Junction – in Monrovia in 2015, in the immediate aftermath of the Ebola epidemic. Barnesville Junction was an entirely MSF-run facility, separate from the public health system. From its inception, the intention was to support the Liberian Ministry of Health for a period of five years, to enable it to rebuild its capacity in paediatrics following the devastation caused by the Ebola epidemic.
With this timeframe now at an end, we closed Barnesville Junction and switched our focus to supporting Barnesville healthcare centre, a public health facility, where we provide inpatient paediatric care and staff supervision and training.
Elsewhere in Montserrado county, we continued to run a programme we set up in 2017 to respond to the lack of consultations, diagnosis, treatment and medication for people with mental health and neurological disorders, such as epilepsy, in the country. People with these conditions often face social stigma that can lead to exclusion from schools or jobs.
In 2022, we expanded our cohort of patients through five health facilities and community-based care. We treated all our patients on an outpatient basis, making hospital referrals when necessary. We also coordinated psychosocial workers and health volunteers to work with patients’ families and communities to address social stigma.
Additionally, we responded to measles outbreaks in five counties (Montserrado, Margibi, Sinoe, Nimba and Bomi), providing treatment for children at Barnesville Junction, and supporting the Ministry of Health with measles kits for the treatment of measles cases across the five counties.
