Liberia Medical Facilities

With the recent Ebola epidemic, the flaws in Liberia’s medical infrastructure have been made painfully obvious. Liberia, a country of four million people, has only 37 practicing doctors according to health officials. This is evidence of a serious lack in the availability of medical services to the majority of Liberians. An American gynecologist who visited the country in 2012 to provide services with a team from the Mt. Sinai Hospital observed families of hospital patients supplying their own food and bed linens due to the medical facility they were working in lacking funds for basic necessities. The root issue at the heart of many of Liberia’s woes stems from the long civil war. In addition to damaging the medical infrastructure, the country’s only medical school was forced to close for long periods of time, resulting in medical students taking an average eight years to graduate. There has been a serious push for reform and revitalization with medical facilities being rebuilt and medical students now on track to spend only three years in school. Liberia is facing a number of issues, and prior to the current epidemic has not prioritized health expenditures. The government spends an estimated 16.8 percent of their GDP, the lowest in the world, on healthcare. The average GDP spending on healthcare systems in sub-Saharan Africa is ~50 percent. Liberia’s healthcare system is highly dependent on international aid. Donors finance 50 percent of total health expenditures. Approximately 80 percent of all health services are provided by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and will continue to be so for the foreseeable future. However, the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare has been working with NGOs such as Health Systems 20/20 to improve their existing infrastructure. Attribute Table Field DescriptionsISO3 - International Organization for Standardization 3-digit country code ADM0_NAME - Administration level zero identification / name ADM1_NAME - Administration level one identification / name ADM2_NAME - Administration level two identification / name NAME - Name of health facility TYPE1 - Primary classification in the geodatabase TYPE2 - Secondary classification in the geodatabase CITY - City location available SPA_ACC - Spatial accuracy of site location (1 – high, 2 – medium, 3 – low) COMMENTS - Comments or notes regarding themedical facility SOURCE_DT - Source one creation date SOURCE - Source one SOURCE2_DT - Source two creation date SOURCE2 - Source two CollectionThe feature class was generated utilizing data from OpenStreetMap, Wikimapia, GeoNames and other sources. OpenStreetMap is a free worldwide map, created by crowd-sourcing. Wikimapia is open-content mapping focused on gathering all geographical objects in the world. GeoNames is a geographical places database maintained and edited by the online community. Consistent naming conventions for geographic locations were attempted but name variants may exist, which can include historical or less widespread interpretations.The data included herein have not been derived from a registered survey and should be considered approximate unless otherwise defined. While rigorous steps have been taken to ensure the quality of each dataset, DigitalGlobe is not responsible for the accuracy and completeness of data compiled from outside sources.Sources (HGIS)Aizenman, Nurith and Beemsterboer, Nicole. “Why Patients Aren’t Coming to Liberia’s Redemption Hospital.” August 27, 2014. Accessed September 26, 2014. www.npr.org.“Liberia: ArcelorMittal Folds Partly – Terminates Expansion Contract.” All Africa. August 14, 2013. Accessed September 26, 2014. allafrica.com. Cohen, Elizabeth. “Ebola Patients Left to Lie on the Ground.” CNN. September 23, 2014. Accessed September 26, 2014. www.cnn.com.“Kingdom Care Medical Center Reaches Rural Communities with Health Care.” Daily Observer. January 28, 2014. Accessed September 26, 2014. www.liberianobserver.com. DigitalGlobe, "DigitalGlobe Imagery Archive." Accessed September 24, 2014.“Eternal Love Winning Africa: ELWA Hospital.” Eternal Love Winning Africa. January 2014. Accessed September 26, 2014. www.elwaministries.org.Freeman, Colin. “One Patient in a 200-bed Hospital: How Ebola has Devastated Liberia’s Health System.” The Telegraph. August 15, 2014. Accessed September 26, 2014. www.telegraph.co.uk.“Lewin Reaches Out to River Gee, Maryland.” Gale Global Issues. March 4, 2013. . Accessed September 26, 2014. find.galegroup.com. Gbelewala, Korboi. “Liberia: Health Offical – Ebola Death Toll Hits 11 in Lofa.” All Africa. June 24, 2014. Accessed September 26, 2014. allafrica.com. GeoNames, "Liberia." September 23, 2014. Accessed September 23, 2014. www.geonames.org.Google, September 2014. Accessed September 2014. www.google.com.Kollie, Namotee P.M. “Liberia: C.B. Dunbar Hospital Receives Medical Supplies.” September 27, 2013. Accessed September 26, 2014. allafrica.com.“MSF Hands Over Last Hospitals to Ministry of Health after 20 Years of Emergency Aid in Liberia.” Medecins Sans Frontieres. June 25, 2010. Accessed September 26, 2014. www.msf.org. Nah, Vivian M. and Johnson, Obediah. “Liberia: Ebola Kills Woman at Duside Hospital in Firestone.” All Africa. April 4, 2014. Accessed September 26, 2014. allafrica.com. “Catholic Hospital Director Dies of Ebola in Liberia.” National Catholic Register. August 05, 2014. Accessed September 26, 2014. www.ncregister.com.OpenStreetMap, "Liberia." September 2014. Accessed September 18, 2014. www.openstreetmap.org.Senkpeni, Alpha Daffae. “No Ebola Gears for Clinic in Grand Bassa District #2.” Front Page Africa. August 12, 2014. Accessed September 26, 2014. www.frontpageafricaonline.com. “Seventh-day Adventist Cooper Hospital” Seventh-Day Adventist Church. November 18, 2004. Accessed September 26, 2014. www.adventistdirectory.org.“St. Benedict Menni Rehabilitation Centre, Liberia.” Sisters Hospitallers. January 2014. Accessed September 26, 2014. www.sistershospitallers.org. “Liberia – SOS Medical and Social Centres.” SOS Children’s Villages. January 2014. Accessed September 26, 2014. www.sos-medical-centres.org.“Liberia.” Sustainable Marketplace. January 2014. Accessed September 26, 2014. liberia.buildingmarkets.org. “Reconstruction of the Vinjama Hospital in Liberia.” Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). January 2014. Accessed September 26, 2014. www.sdc.admin.ch. Verdier, Lewis S. “Liberia: TB On the Rise in Pleebo.” All Africa. March 28, 2013. Accessed September 26, 2014. allafrica.com.Wikimapia, "Liberia." September 2014. Accessed September 22, 2014. wikimapia.org.“Snapper Hill Clinic.” Word Press. November 12, 2012. Accessed September 26, 2014. jbloodnc.wordpress.com.Sources (Metadata)Neporent, Liz. "Liberia's Medical Conditions Dire Even Before Ebola Outbreak." ABC News. August 4, 2014. Accessed October 3, 2014. abcnews.go.com."Liberia." Health Systems Strengthening: Where We Work:. January 1, 2014. Accessed October 3, 2014. www.healthsystems2020.org."Financing Liberia's Health Care." Health Systems Strengthening: News:. February 13, 2012. Accessed October 3, 2014. www.healthsystems2020.org.UNCLASSIFIED