Monrovia

woman

The Liberian women who took on their traffickers and won

Liberia has been on and off the State Department's human trafficking watch list for years. In this desperately poor country, people accept jobs from agents to work as domestic servants in other countries. Usually, they are trapped, earning little money and subject to abuse. But several hundred Liberian women used social media to escape their traffickers in 2022.

The Liberian women who took on their traffickers and won
African American Mayor Mike Elliott poses in a dark gray suit

Brooklyn Center mayor on Chauvin trial: Black people can no longer tolerate ‘a state of terror’

Brooklyn Center mayor on Chauvin trial: Black people can no longer tolerate ‘a state of terror’
People wait to vote during the presidential election at a polling station of Duport Road in Monrovia, Liberia, Oct. 10, 2017.

Former warlords are among the Liberians vying to be the next head of state

Former warlords are among the Liberians vying to be the next head of state
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton traveled to Liberia to support President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Africa's only female president.

How hard is it to elect a female head of state? Liberians made it look easy.

How hard is it to elect a female head of state? Liberians made it look easy.
Jefferson Krua fled Liberia as a refugee at age 5, and eventually settled in Boston, MA. Recently, he's moved back to Liberia to help with re-building the country's infrastructure.

A young Liberian refugee, educated in America, chooses to move back 'home'

A young Liberian refugee, educated in America, chooses to move back 'home'
Children reading "Gbagba"

This children's book is starting a national conversation about corruption in Liberia

Liberian academic and author Robtel Neajai Pailey says children, with their curiosity and strong sense of right and wrong, are the natural audience for a book about corruption. So she wrote one.

This children's book is starting a national conversation about corruption in Liberia
Miatta reads

Once a refugee, she's opened one of Liberia's few bookstores, where children can read about themselves

It's hard to learn to read when your country has been torn apart by war and disease. It's even harder when children's books come from far away. But Wayétu Moore, whose family fled Liberia's civil war when she was five, is setting out to change the odds for kids in Liberia and other countries with low literacy.

Once a refugee, she's opened one of Liberia's few bookstores, where children can read about themselves
The blood of a survivor of the Ebola virus is extracted as part of a study launched at Liberia's John F. Kennedy Hospital in Monrovia, Liberia, June 17, 2015.

West Africa is Ebola-free. Or is it?

Liberia is Ebola-free, says the World Health Organization. But experts say that the problem of Ebola is far from over.

West Africa is Ebola-free. Or is it?
As the Ebola epidemic peaks, new challenges are emerging in Liberia

Now that Ebola is subsiding, the question is what to do with contaminated sewage

Disposing of millions of tons of potentially Ebola infected human sewage is no easy task. But Liberia has is attempting its own solution.

Now that Ebola is subsiding, the question is what to do with contaminated sewage
Student at Gibson High School in Monrovia, Deborah Natt,16, is smiling to be back at school. At every entrance there is a handwashing station.

As Ebola loosens grip, Liberia's schools begin re-opening

In Liberia, the first thing pupils do is have their temperatures taken. Schools had been shut for seven months after the Ebola outbreak.

As Ebola loosens grip, Liberia's schools begin re-opening
A member of a burial team prepares to spray a colleague with chlorine disinfectant in Monrovia.

Despite international aid, some Ebola workers are still 'on the frontlines with no ammunition'

There are plenty of kinds of workers mobilizing to fight Ebola in West Africa, not just doctors and nurses. They include "contact tracers," who monitor people and try to get them to respect quarantines. They say they're still doing a vital job without the tools they need.

Despite international aid, some Ebola workers are still 'on the frontlines with no ammunition'
A mural in Monrovia illustrating health instructions for treating the Ebola virus.

Liberians worry that next week's elections might spread Ebola

Public concern about the spread of Ebola in Liberia seems to be waning, even though about 10 new cases continue to be reported in the capital Monrovia every day. Now the possibility of Senate elections there next week has health officials especially worried.

Liberians worry that next week's elections might spread Ebola
Doctors help each other with their protective suits during an Ebola virus drill in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

An epidemiologist in Monrovia describes hazmat training — from hand washing to elbow bumps

For those fighting Ebola on the front lines, personal protective equipment — those infamous hazmat suits — are both necessary and cumbersome. According to epidemiologist Sharon McDonnell, healthcare workers struggle to work around the limitations of that equipment — while taking a host of other precautions.

An epidemiologist in Monrovia describes hazmat training — from hand washing to elbow bumps
Ebola evacuation

An epidemiologist suggests we take cues from the AIDS crisis in dealing with Ebola

While it may seem as though media attention surrounding the Ebola outbreak has dwindled, President Barack Obama has said that "we are nowhere near out of the woods yet in West Africa" — meaning volunteers are still needed. Physician and epidemiologist Sharon McDonnell is one of those volunteers, and she says her experience working during the AIDS crisis offers her some perspective.

An epidemiologist suggests we take cues from the AIDS crisis in dealing with Ebola
Residents who were in an Ebola quarantine area complain to a security officer as they wait for their relatives to bring them food and essentials, in West Point, Monrovia, on August 23, 2014.

It's not just the US — Liberian officials are rethinking Ebola quarantines

The issue of quarantine is not only a hot-button topic in the US: Officials in Ebola-ravaged Liberia, for instance, have grappled with the issue for months. And that is why some are now looking to Liberia to draw upon lessons learned from an evolved quarantine policy.

It's not just the US — Liberian officials are rethinking Ebola quarantines