Monrovia- The fight against the deadly COVID-19 pandemic in Liberia has been given a boost, theUnited Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) donation of 4 Pickup trucks, 5 motorbikes and 60 pieces of mobile phone to the National Public Health Institute of Liberia (NPHIL).
This is to support surveillance and contact tracing during the ongoing Coronavirus disease outbreak in Liberia and the items were handed over to NPHIL officials on Tuesday, March 24, 2020.
The vehicles and motorbikes were previously on loan at the Liberia Institute of Statistics and Geo-Information Services (LISGIS) as part of UNFPA’s support to the conduct of the 2019 Demographic and Health Survey and upcoming Liberia population and housing census, a UNFPA press release says.
“Interruption of the Coronavirus transmission in the community is premised on the early detection and prompt isolation of new cases. During disease outbreak with established person-to-person transmission, new cases are more likely to emerge among contacts. For this reason, it is critical that all potential contacts of suspected, probable and confirmed cases are systemically identified and put under observation for the maximum incubation period of the disease,” says Dr. Bannet Ndyanabangi, UNFPA Representative.
“The equipment represents part of the assistance and support of UNFPA to NPHIL in the training and deployment of contact tracers as part of the surveillance and contact tracing as response measure to COVID-19,” Dr. Ndyanabangi says.
“We expect that the vehicles and motorbikes will be properly used and taken care of by NPHIL and returned to LISGIS at the end of the COVID-19 outbreak in the country,” Mr. Wreh noted.
“UNFPA and LISGIS will be working together to support the surveillance pillar of the national response; specifically contact tracing. We have to ensure that every person that gets in contact with a COVID-19 infected person is followed and all the contacts are traced to stop further spread of the virus in the society,” He adds.
For LISGIS Director General, Mr. Francis F. Wreh, “the Liberia Institute of Statistics and Geo-Information Services; the entity of government responsible for data and statistics will make sure that the contact tracing aspect of the COVID-19 response in Liberia is conducted effectively.
In response, Ms. McJane Macauley, NPHIL Deputy Director General for Technical Services lauded UNFPA and LISGIS for their support to the national response of the COVID-19.
“We shall ensure the proper use of the vehicles, motorbikes and mobile phones,” she said.