Special Representative of the Secretary-General Karin Landgren continues her tour of Liberia’ s counties to assess the Ebola Viral Disease outbreak situation, with her latest port of call being the Bong County administrative capital, Gbarnga, where she called for behavioral change and involvement of all to contain the disease.

“There is denial, there is resistance, there is suspicion, sometimes there is superstition, and often there is a lack of resources; it means a lot of behavioral change for all of us,” Landgren told a meeting of the Bong County Ebola Taskforce and civil society groups.

She commended the efforts of the county leadership and its Ebola Taskforce to tackle the disease, and stressed the need for concerted action to deal with the outbreak.

“This is no time for division; this is no time for pointing fingers; this is no time for blaming other people for past mistakes. This is the time to pull together and do what we know needs to be done to turn this horrible epidemic around. The sad truth is that this crisis is still accelerating; it is growing, and it is moving faster,” she pointed out. 

Landgren expressed the determination of the UN family to support Liberia turn the tide on the disease. “Where we can help, we will.  Where we can’t help, we will be your strongest advocate. The commitment of the UN is absolute to stay in the path with Liberia and helping see Liberia through this catastrophe that has befallen,” she reassured.

Bong County Superintendent Selena Polson Mappy enumerated the achievements made by the taskforce in the areas of public awareness and contact-tracing but said there were many challenges. 

“The lack of transportation for the burial team, the closure of the two major hospitals in the  county, the uncooperative attitude of  some community dwellers, constant denial, and our cultural practices; these are all problems that we continue to face in the battle against Ebola,” the Superintendent noted.

The biggest challenge for the health workers in the county was to win back the confidence of the people, said the head of Bong County Health Team, Dr. Samson Arzoaquoi. “There is the belief among the public that the hospitals are the source of the Ebola virus; so people are staying away because they think that the injectables, the chlorine, and the hand washing materials used in the hospitals are the agents of the disease; this is a huge challenge,” he lamented.

The SRSG, in the company of senior UNMIL, UNICEF, and WFP officials, visited the Bong County Ebola Treatment Centre being constructed by the Save the Children-UK with the support from other partners, including UNMIL.

The UN envoy also held a town hall meeting with UNMIL staff members during which, she explained the mechanism put in place by UNMIL to deal with the disease, and advised staff members to strictly adhere to preventive measures against the disease.