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EQUIP WAS THERE!
David and Audry Waines, the founders of EQUIP Liberia, first came to Liberia in 1986. They began work in education and health and eventually established EQUIP Liberia as a local NGO in 1999. To learn more about the Waines, click here. Since that time, EQUIP has been working with the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare to renovate health facilities, supply medicines and equipment, train and supervise health workers and train over 6,000 Community Health Ambassadors throughout Liberia.
EQUIP is one of Nimba County’s longest-serving NGOs, providing highly effective, innovative, evidence-based, integrated Primary Health Care (PHC) preventative and curative services, together with the County Health Team for over ten years. EQUIP staff pioneered the introduction of Insecticide Treated Nets (ITNs) to Liberia in Nimba in 1993 and have been leading the way on community-based malaria, HIV and diarrhea reduction programs, MNCH, Water and sanitation, EPI and GBV protection with a special focus on youth and women over the past decade. The EQUIP model of community empowerment, which currently covers 85% of communities in Nimba, has produced documented dramatic health seeking behavior change and reductions in mortality and morbidity in rural Nimba target communities. (i.e. decline in under 5s mortality from 324/1000 to 110/1000). EQUIP’s clinic work was recently recognized when the January 2009 BPHS Accreditation results were released naming EQUIP as the number-one-rated BPHS health service provider for all Government MOH facilities in Liberia. EQUIP was the only health NGO active in Nimba in 2003 when the county was cut off for months behind combat frontlines. EQUIP took the lead in building the logistical capacity of the County Health Team and together reactivated 23 MOH clinics by supplying essential medicines, supplies and vaccines.
EQUIP currently supports 10 PHC clinics in 5 districts of Nimba County and has an extensive Community Health Volunteer network where trained CHAs provide outreach to communities through a fully integrated program covering Malaria, MCH, EPI, HIVAIDS, Nutrition, WATSAN, GBV and SEA. We have 8 international staff, 120 Liberian staff, and often up to 10 international volunteers at any given time. EQUIP also is responsible for giving paid incentives to 70 Ministry of Health and Social Welfare staff members.
Training Health Workers
A key focus of EQUIP’s work in Liberia has been to train community health workers, clinic staff and health teams at the county level by working in partnership with the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (MOH). EQUIP focuses on capacity building in technical skills, as well as management and administrative in anticipation of the MOH resuming full responsibility for the facilities currently supported by EQUIP.
Improving Access to Primary Health Care
EQUIP is providing essential preventive and curative services at the clinic and community level; improving the quality of primary care and community health services, and training community health teams and clinic staff to manage sustainable primary and care services. Through our successful Community Health Ambassador program, which engages community networks, EQUIP has also been able to boost community-level health education, promote local health services and increase the number of people accessing these services.
Key achievements in Health
• Strengthening the capacity of MOH staff, including continued support to 10 clinics
• Recognized as the number one rated Basic Package of Health Services (BPHS) health service provider for all Government MOH facilities in Liberia
Access to Justice
With a focus on protection of human rights, counseling, advocacy and legal assistance, education and support groups for victims of murder, gender based violence, sexual exploitation / abuse, torture and other major crimes, EQUIP now includes Access to Justice into it’s fully integrated community health work. We are tackling impunity of abusers through support for prosecution (leading to over 400 arrests and groundbreaking convictions of rapists and murderers in Nimba County) and have provided care for hundreds of victims of violent crimes - mostly young girls. In addition, work is being done to build the capacity of civil and state authorities to strengthen the rule of law.
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