Despite the arrival of an international peacekeepping force and the return of a tentative peace, day to day life in Liberia is still characterized by a tremendous struggle just to survive. "Liberia is undergoing an unprecedented humanitarian crisis that will claim many thousands of victims unless the international community acts immediately and effectively," observes Julius E. Coles, President of Africare.
Recent intense fighting in provincial towns between rebel groups and Liberian soldiers has forced hundreds of thousands of civilians to flee their homes. Both rebels and government troops have used these displaced persons as human shields, attacking refugee camps and looting the property of relief organizations, resulting in many civilian casualties. The escalation of armed conflict in the country's interior has caused a major influx of displaced people to the capital city of Monrovia, where the estimated population has now reached 1.5 million. Many of these displaced people have found temporary shelter by gathering in public buildings.
Overcrowding and conditions of extreme povertyeven prior to the present crisis, most of the population was living on less than $1 a day and unemployment hovered around 75%make Monrovia highly susceptible to the spread of infectious diseases. The city has lacked adequate running water, electricity, and shelter for the past 13 years. It has one of the highest annual rainfalls in the world and is ringed with swamps that breed mosquitoes year round. Malaria, cholera, and dysentery have now reached epidemic proportions. Food and safe drinking water are becoming increasingly scarce.
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Africare Focuses on the Health of the Liberian People
Africare has been actively and continuously working in Liberia since 1992, throughout the civil war. Currently, Africare's major work is in the area of community health; and Africare, in a consortium with the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs and the Morehouse School of Medicine, has launched a United States Agency for International Development-funded program to save lives and protect health in the short term as well as to lay a foundation for future self-reliance and long-term sustainability. This project, which was just getting off the ground when the civil war re-escalated earlier this year, is even more important now that peace has returned.
To help relieve health crises made worse by the recent war, Africare is focusing on rebuilding and re-equipping community-based clinics and providing health education and services. In addition to Africare's on-going health work in Liberia, experienced staff are currently on the ground helping with emergency humanitarian response.
Africare is a leader in aid to Africa as well as the oldest and largest African-American organization specializing in African aid. Over its 33-year history, Africare has delivered more than $450 million in assistance-repressenting over 2,000 projects and millions of beneficiaries-to 35 countries Africa-wide. Today, Africare's 150-pllus programs reach families and communities in 26 nations in every region of the African continent.
