Read about our Medical Center driving meaningful change and empower communities. Together, we have provided equitable healthcare for at need communities in Grand Bassa. Our largest project yet is part of our solution to create lasting impact.
With nearly 50 trained medical staff, we continue to expand our medical services, saving more lives and empowering communities in need through impactful, long-lasting healthcare solutions.
Our Medical Center utilizes a wide range of medical equipment from diagnostic imaging such as ultrasound machines and general x-ray machines to laboratory equipment such as clinical centrifuges.
The demographic structure of Grand Bassa County dictates the scale and nature of its healthcare demand. The 2022 census recorded a total population of 293,689 residents. The most defining characteristic is the extreme rurality: 204,083 residents (69.5%) live in rural areas, while only 89,606 residents (30.5%) are classified as urban.
This population is exceptionally young, aligning with national trends where approximately 74.5% of the total population is under 35 years old. Specifically, children aged 0-14 years old constitute 35.5% (104,129 individuals) of Grand Bassa’s population. This youthful structure necessitates substantial investment in pediatric care, routine immunization, and reproductive and maternal health services. The high rural proportion concurrently magnifies the challenges associated with infrastructural access, including the difficulty of timely referral for critically ill patients across vast, poorly networked areas.
As such, the areas of critical need for children 0-14 is to treat communicable disease such as malaria, vaccine preventable diseases such as polio, measles, and typhoid, along with proper nutrition solutions to fight off diarrhea.
For the female population, there continues to be a high demand for reproductive, maternal, and newborn health services (RMNH).
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Communicable diseases continue to represent the most immediate and widespread threat to the young population of Grand Bassa County. Malaria is identified as the leading cause of illness and death across Liberia, with year-round transmission. The high incidence of pediatric illness remains stark; 25% of children under five in Grand Bassa suffer from diarrhea, emphasizing the need for sustained public health and WASH interventions.
Vaccine-preventable diseases (VPDs) pose a continued risk due to incomplete coverage. While surveillance focal points have been trained in the county , the national burden remains high, with 1,725 cases of measles reported in 2024 and 33 cases of Neonatal Tetanus (NNT). The underlying vulnerability is reflected in the 2021 data showing that coverage for the first dose of measles vaccine was only 58% nationally. The success of CHWs in providing interventions such as RDTs confirms that primary intervention is effective, but the endemic prevalence demands both facility-level curative care and aggressive preventative scaling.
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Grand Bassa County is a known epicenter for Lassa fever, a viral hemorrhagic infection with an extremely high fatality rate (56% in observed outbreaks). An investigation in Grand Bassa in 2021 confirmed Lassa fever outbreaks. Crucially, the index case was noted to have a persistent high fever that did not resolve with standard anti-malarial and antibiotic treatment. This common clinical presentation underscores the risk of misdiagnosis at the primary care level, especially since CHWs are the frontline managers of fever cases.
While national capacity has seen improvements, including the establishment of genomic sequencing at the national public health laboratory to control outbreaks like Lassa fever, mpox, and measles , local capacity in Grand Bassa is paramount. Our medical center is designed to integrate advanced biosafety and specialized diagnostic services to manage high-threat pathogens. Investing in the new facility’s laboratory capacity to include rapid, definitive diagnostic tools, such as Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction Testing (RT-PCR) , alongside robust infection prevention and control (IPC) protocols, is vital.
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Liberia is actively attempting to strengthen its response to the rising tide of Non-Communicable Diseases. National estimates highlight the severe scale of the NCD burden, particularly regarding diabetes: the age-standardized prevalence (for ages 20-79) is estimated at 9.2%, with a staggering 85.1% of cases remaining undiagnosed. This represents a significant, hidden epidemic, likely mirrored across Grand Bassa County’s substantial adult population. Furthermore, studies on COVID-19 severity have reinforced the established connection between comorbidities like diabetes and hypertension and increased odds of severe outcomes from infectious illnesses.
The Ministry of Health, supported by partners like WHO, has undertaken efforts to generate strategic information, including the 2022 STEPS survey covering all 15 counties, to obtain core data on NCD risk factors. However, the current lack of diagnosed cases and structured long-term management implies a massive, looming public health crisis, where undiagnosed NCDs will inevitably lead to complex complications, driving up future mortality and overwhelming the curative health budget.
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Liberia faces a severe maternal mortality crisis, maintaining one of the highest burdens in the West African region. Despite a declared public health emergency years ago , limited access to quality obstetric care remains a critical determinant of poor outcomes. While the national MMR declined to 742 per 100,000 live births by 2020, the geographical disparities are unacceptable: rural women face an MMR of 1,024 per 100,000 live births, dramatically higher than the 694 per 100,000 figure in urban areas. Given that 70% of Grand Bassa’s population is rural , this high rural mortality risk directly impacts the county’s overall health profile.
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To tackle this crisis, the country aims to achieve a minimum of one Comprehensive Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care (CEmONC) facility per 200,000 population. A CEmONC facility, typically the County Hospital, must operate 24/7 and provide advanced services including general surgery, pediatrics, obstetrics, gynecology, and critical interventions like Cesarean sections. With a population nearing 300,000 , Grand Bassa requires at least one fully operational CEmONC center.
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See the video below for more insight on operations of the Medical Center in Grand Bassa!
We have partnered with SAAR Insurance and ICA locally in the Grand Bassa area to help cover locals! We also are partnered with NGO’s such as Calvary Love Ministries International and Psalm 82:3 to provide medical care for the people they support.