Data_Sheet_1_Liberia health system's journey to long-term recovery and resilience post-Ebola: a case study of an exemplary multi-year collaboration.PDF

This article is part of the Research Topic ‘Health Systems Recovery in the Context of COVID-19 and Protracted Conflict'Liberia is one of the three countries worst hit by the 2014–2016 West Africa Ebola Virus disease (EVD) outbreak, during which it recorded over 10,000 cases, including health workers. Estimates suggest that the non-EVD morbidity and mortality resulting from the collapse of the health system exceeded the direct impact of EVD. Lessons from the outbreak were clear, not only for Liberia but also for the regional and global communities: that building health system resilience through an integrated approach is an investment in population health and wellbeing, as well as economic security and national development. It is therefore no surprise that Liberia made recovery and resilience a national priority from the time the outbreak waned in 2015. The recovery agenda provided the platform for stakeholders to work toward the restoration of the pre-outbreak baseline of health system functions while aiming to build a higher level of resilience, informed by lessons from the Ebola crises. Based on the co-authors' experiences of on-the-ground country-support work, this study sought to provide an overview of the Liberia Health Service Resilience project (2018–2023) funded by KOICA, and propose a set of recommendations for national authorities and donors, derived from the authors' perceptions of best practices and key challenges associated with the project. We used both quantitative and qualitative approaches to generate the data represented in this study by reviewing published and unpublished technical and operational documents, and datasets derived through situational and needs assessments and routine monitoring and evaluation activities. This project has contributed to the implementation of the Liberia Investment Plan for Building a Resilient Health System and the successful response to the COVID-19 outbreak in Liberia. Although limited in scope, the Health Service Resilience project has demonstrated that health system resilience could be operationalized by applying a catchment and integrated approach and encouraging multi-sectoral collaboration, partnership, local ownership, and promoting the Primary Health Care approach. Principles applied in this pilot could guide the operationalization of health system resilience efforts in other resource-limited settings similar to Liberia and beyond.

本文系《COVID-19与长期冲突背景下的卫生系统恢复》研究专题的一部分。利比里亚是2014-2016年西非埃博拉病毒病（EVD）爆发受影响最严重的三个国家之一，在此次疫情中，该国记录了超过10,000例病例，其中包括医护人员。据估计，由于卫生系统崩溃导致的非EVD发病率和死亡率超过了EVD的直接影响。此次疫情的经验不仅对利比里亚，也对区域和全球社区具有明确的启示：通过综合方法构建卫生系统韧性是一项对人口健康与福祉、经济安全和国家发展的投资。因此，利比里亚在2015年疫情减退后，便将恢复与韧性提升为国家优先事项。恢复议程为利益相关者提供了一个平台，以便他们共同努力恢复疫情前的卫生系统功能基准，同时旨在根据埃博拉疫情的经验，构建更高水平的韧性。基于合著者参与现场国家支持工作的经验，本研究旨在概述由韩国国际合作机构（KOICA）资助的利比里亚卫生服务韧性项目（2018-2023年），并提出一套针对国家当局和捐助者的建议，这些建议源于作者对最佳实践和与项目相关的关键挑战的认知。本研究通过审查已发表和未发表的技战术文件及通过情境和需求评估、常规监测与评估活动获得的数据库，采用了定量和定性方法生成本研究所代表的数据。该项目有助于实施利比里亚构建韧性卫生系统的投资计划，并成功应对了利比里亚的COVID-19疫情。尽管项目范围有限，但卫生服务韧性项目已证明，通过应用流域和综合方法，鼓励多部门协作、伙伴关系、地方所有权，并推广初级卫生保健方法，可以操作化卫生系统韧性。在此试点中应用的原则，可为在类似利比里亚及其他资源有限环境中实施卫生系统韧性努力提供指导。