Liberia

Introduction

The entire population of Liberia is at high risk for malaria. Transmission is perennial in most of the country, particularly in the central and southern regions, and is intense for most months of the year. The annual reported number of malaria cases in 2010 was 922,173 with 1,422 deaths.

Progress

Liberia has made significant progress in malaria control. A ban has been introduced on the importation and sale of oral artemisinin-based monotherapies. The country has introduced a policy on Community Case Management of malaria and taken steps to introduce the policy on Community Case Management of pneumonia. Liberia has no major malaria commodity gaps for 2012.

Impact

The annual reported number of malaria cases in 2010 was 922,173 with 208,294 malaria admissions and 1,422 deaths. The annual average reported number of malaria cases increased from 720,000 during 2006–2007 to 922,173 cases in 2010.

Key Challenges

• Scale-up of access to ACTs, especially in the private sector and at community level.
• BCC for proper use of LLINs.
• Coordination and harmonization of all partner program activities related to malaria.
• Lack of clarity at country level between the Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) practice (presumptive treatment) of suspected malaria cases and the national malaria treatment policy of confirmation before treatment, leading to non-malaria fever cases being wrongly treated as malaria.