Milken Institute School of Public Health Poster Presentations (Marvin Center & Video)
The Effect of the Liberian Civil Wars on Maternal and Child Health
Poster Number
90
Document Type
Poster
Publication Date
3-2016
Abstract
In 1989 Liberia broke out in the first of two civil wars that would last until 2003. As a result of both wars, approximately 200,000 people were killed and another 1.5 million were forced to flee their homes. Once peace was achieved, Liberia’s health system was in state of disarray. The majority of health facilities were destroyed and the entire state only had 30 physicians. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was elected to office in 2005 and made repairing Liberia's health system one of her top priorities. One of her main focuses was maternal and child health. This study examines data from Liberia pre-civil war, immediately post-civil war, and the most recent data available. The data used is from the Demographic Health Surveys made available by USAID. The aim of the study is to demonstrate if Liberia’s two civil wars had an impact on its maternal and child health indicators and the change that has occurred since. Ghana is used as a control due to its geographic proximity and absence of civil war. While final results of this study are still pending, initial results demonstrate that Liberia is developmentally behind Ghana in maternal and child health indicators.
Creative Commons License
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Open Access
1
The Effect of the Liberian Civil Wars on Maternal and Child Health
In 1989 Liberia broke out in the first of two civil wars that would last until 2003. As a result of both wars, approximately 200,000 people were killed and another 1.5 million were forced to flee their homes. Once peace was achieved, Liberia’s health system was in state of disarray. The majority of health facilities were destroyed and the entire state only had 30 physicians. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was elected to office in 2005 and made repairing Liberia's health system one of her top priorities. One of her main focuses was maternal and child health. This study examines data from Liberia pre-civil war, immediately post-civil war, and the most recent data available. The data used is from the Demographic Health Surveys made available by USAID. The aim of the study is to demonstrate if Liberia’s two civil wars had an impact on its maternal and child health indicators and the change that has occurred since. Ghana is used as a control due to its geographic proximity and absence of civil war. While final results of this study are still pending, initial results demonstrate that Liberia is developmentally behind Ghana in maternal and child health indicators.
Comments
Presented at: GW Research Days 2016.