Pan African Visions

Liberia: U.S. Official Visits Post-Ebola Zones

May 20, 2017

[caption id="attachment_38038" align="alignleft" width="300"] Photo: U.S. Embassy [Monrovia]
U.S. Secretary of Health Dr. Thomas E. Price meets President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf at the Roberts International Airport in Monrovia.[/caption]

A senior U.S. government official has visited several post Ebola communities in Liberia where more than 4,800 people were killed by the deadly disease.

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price made his first official visit to Liberia Thursday, March 18, 2017, during which he visited communities including West Point, Bushord Island and other areas where hundreds of Liberians were reportedly killed by the epidemic.

The U.S. Health Secretary and members of his delegation were escorted to the various communities by Liberian officials including security personnel.

Reports say it is the first official trip to Liberia by a senior American health official since the end of the ebola crisis in 2014.

The Associated Press News agency said Mr. Price on Thursday praised the Liberian government for its "remarkable cooperation" on health care issues.

The American official is reported to have met some Ebola survivors, including Mohammed Kromah, who told Mr. Price how he spent almost two months at a treatment center.

He showed the U.S. health secretary his Ebola-free certificate, which was greeted with wide applause.

Mr. Price later met with health workers at Redemption Hospital, where the first Ebola death was recorded in 2014.

The American official also spoke with members of the hospital's mental health mobile teams, which go out into communities to provide services.

*The News(Monrovia)/Allafrica