Latest news with #healthworker
Yahoo
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
As US abruptly ends support, Liberia faces empty health clinics and unplanned pregnancies
SARWORLOR, Liberia (AP) — Five months ago, Roseline Phay, a 32-year-old farmer from the West African nation of Liberia, set off on a quest to find contraceptives. Phay and her partner have two daughters, and they barely make ends meet. Determined not to have more children, she went to a health worker in her village, but contraception pills, implants and condoms had run out. Phay trekked for hours on red clay roads to the nearest clinic, but they had no contraceptives either. She did not know it, but her mission was doomed from the beginning. Just weeks before, U.S. President Donald Trump abruptly suspended most foreign aid through the U.S. Agency for International Development, which paid for medications in Liberia's public clinics. Tenacious and outspoken, Phay repeated the trip four times. Then she got pregnant. 'I'm suffering,' she said, with daughter Pauline crying in her arms. 'I have this little child on my back, and the other child in my stomach is suffering." She must continue farming throughout her pregnancy, she said, or "I will not eat.' After she got pregnant she had to wean Pauline off breastfeeding, she said, and the girl became so badly malnourished that she almost died. The U.S. cuts left no therapeutic food to give her, and she is still ill. Phay is among millions across Africa who have seen their lives upended after the U.S. aid cuts. In Liberia, the American support made up almost 2.6% of the gross national income, the highest percentage anywhere in the world, according to the Center for Global Development. 'The impact of USAID in Liberia cannot be overstated,' said Richlue O. Burphy, who worked for USAID projects for over a decade and manages the National Lottery, a government body. 'Everywhere you go, you see the USAID (signs). And almost all the government institutions ... had some kind of USAID partnership.' A feeling of betrayal The sense of betrayal runs deep in Liberia, established in the early 1800s with the aim of relocating freed slaves and free-born Black people from the United States. The political system is modeled on that of the U.S., along with its flag. Liberians often refer to the U.S. as their 'big brother.' Liberia was one of the first countries to receive USAID support, starting in 1961. Its officials thought they would be spared from Trump's cuts because of the countries' close relationship. Following civil wars and an Ebola epidemic, Liberia's survival has depended largely on foreign aid, mainly from the U.S. and the World Bank. Despite abundant natural wealth, six out of 10 Liberians live in poverty, according to the World Bank, and Liberia is among the world's 10 poorest nations. The aid cuts pose 'a serious challenge,' especially for the healthcare system, Deputy Finance Minister Dehpue Y. Zuo, responsible for drafting the development budget, told The Associated Press. To make sure the system stays afloat, he said, "we have to take a dramatic switch to see where we will be cutting funding for other areas.' Liberia received an average of $527.6 million in aid annually between 2014 and 2023, according to the finance ministry. This year, Liberia was supposed to receive $443 million, but the total estimated impact of the cuts is $290 million — essentially what hadn't been disbursed yet. USAID funding built schools and health clinics, provided training for teachers and doctors and gave scholarships for study in the U.S. It supported small-scale farmers and paid for school meals. But most of the U.S. funding went to Liberia's health system, making up 48% of its budget. It funded malaria control, maternal health programs, HIV/AIDS treatment and community health programs. It financed hundreds of health projects run by aid groups. Now in Bong county, where Phay lives, medicine shelves in health clinics are almost empty. The USAID-funded ambulance cannot function because there is no money for fuel. Hospitals are running out of hand sanitizer and gloves. Training for medical staff has stopped, and community health workers have not been paid in months. An opening for China Moses K. Banyan, head of the nearby CB Dunbar Hospital, described the U.S. cuts as 'beyond a shock.' He worried about the future, especially now that Bong county has begun to see a handful of mpox cases spread from neighboring Sierra Leone. Warning of the cuts could have helped in finding options, he said. 'But it's like you were sleeping, you woke up and you were told: 'Hey, leave this house.'' The withdrawal of U.S. support is an opportunity for others, especially China, experts and officials said. Chinese companies have been operating Liberia's gold mines, building roads and training aid workers. Chinese beer is sold alongside local brands. Many Liberians who would have sent children to universities in the U.S. are now choosing China. Last month, China opened a cardiology wing in the capital's main hospital, which is named after John F. Kennedy but was commonly referred to as 'Just For Killing' because of its scarce resources, even before the U.S. cuts. 'There are gaps to be filled, and that cannot be covered by the government of Liberia,' said Zuo, the deputy finance minister. 'We are open door to the rest of the world, including the United States.' In Phay's village of Sarworlor, community health worker Alice Togbah still wears her USAID vest though she hasn't been paid in months. She has no more malaria medication for children. She is running out of cough medicine and diarrhea treatment. A 4-year-old resident, Promise, got malaria a few days ago. Her mother, Grace Morris, obtained only a limited number of malaria tablets at the nearest clinic because of the U.S. cuts. Now they are finished, and the child still feels ill. 'Children die from malaria here,' she said. Last year, her neighbor's son died because he did not get medication on time. Morris and other women also seek contraceptives. Liberia in recent years made strides in bringing down teenage pregnancy rates and maternal mortality rates. For women in traditional, conservative communities, access to contraceptives meant reclaiming some control over their lives. 'If ... my man touches me, I cannot say no because I need to satisfy him,' Phay said. 'But if I have no medicine, I will get pregnant.' Her 9-year-old daughter, also named Promise, is living in the capital, Monrovia, with her aunt. Phay wants her to finish school and have a different life from hers. 'I am begging, if you people have the medicine, you people need to help us," she said. 'I don't want her to suffer like me." ___ For more on Africa and development: The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at
Washington Post
08-07-2025
- Health
- Washington Post
As US abruptly ends support, Liberia faces empty health clinics and unplanned pregnancies
SARWORLOR, Liberia — Five months ago, Roseline Phay, a 32-year-old farmer from the West African nation of Liberia , set off on a quest to find contraceptives. Phay and her partner have two daughters, and they barely make ends meet. Determined not to have more children, she went to a health worker in her village, but contraception pills, implants and condoms had run out. Phay trekked for hours on red clay roads to the nearest clinic, but they had no contraceptives either.
Daily Mail
28-06-2025
- Daily Mail
Paedophile Gary Glitter told hospital worker his Asia holiday to abuse girls was 'the time of his life'
Paedophile Gary Glitter boasted that a holiday to Asia where he abused girls was 'the time of his life', a health worker has revealed. The woman in her 30s, who cared for the shamed singer while he was having a knee operation at a hospital in Dorset in 2022, said he showed no remorse. She also said the 80-year-old was really 'pervy' with the female staff who were caring for him while he was handcuffed to the bed. Glitter, whose real name is Paul Gadd, was first jailed in 1999 for possessing thousands of indecent images of children. He then was locked up again for 16 years in 2015 for sexually abusing three schoolgirls between 1975 and 1980. Glitter was also expelled from Cambodia in 2002 amid reports of sex crime allegations. Speaking about the time she spent with Glitter, the woman told The Mirror: 'He tried to make friends with the nurses, talking about being in Cambodia and what a wonderful place it was and how he spent the time of his life there. 'I felt sick when I found he had been accused of abusing children there.' 'You would of thought he would have felt guilty about it but he was saying it was the best time of his life. It was chilling,' she added. Four years after he was kicked Cambodia, Glitter was convicted of sexually abusing two girls, aged ten and 11, in Vietnam and spent two and a half years in jail. He escaped serious charges of child rape — which carried a death sentence — and returned to the UK in 2008. The offences for which he was jailed in 2015 came to light as part of Operation Yewtree - the Metropolitan Police investigation launched in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal. He was forced to sign the sex offenders' register, but he was arrested once again in 2012 at his multi-million-pound home in Westminster. Police would later describe him as a 'habitual sexual predator who took advantage of the star status afforded to him'. In 2015 he was convicted of attempted rape, four counts of indecent assault and one of having sex with a girl under 13 in the 1970s and 1980s. The 80-year-old was automatically released from HMP The Verne - a low-security prison in Portland, Dorset - in February 2023 after serving half of his sentence. But just six weeks after walking free, he was dramatically taken back for breaching his licence conditions by allegedly viewing downloaded images of children. And he's remained inside since March 2023, having been refused bail in February 2024 when it was determined he remains a risk to children, who he had a 'sexual interest in'. Earlier this month it was revealed that Glitter will stay in jail for another two years after being told that his application to be released from prison had been rejected. Glitter's career grew at exponential rate in the early 1970s after releasing singles including Do You Wanna Touch Me, Rock and Roll, and I'm the Leader of the Gang. Rock and Roll was Glitter's breakout song, becoming one of the biggest hits of 1972, reaching number two in the UK charts and in the top ten in the US. He spent much of the next of the 12 months dominating the top ten, with singles I Didn't Know I Loved You (Till I Saw You Rock and Roll), Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah), and Hello Hello, I'm Back Again all charting, according to a biography. Glitter's first number one came as 'Glittermania' peaked in the Summer of 1973 with the release of I'm the Leader of the Gang (I Am). He then hit number one again in the autumn with I Love You Love Me Love. By the time Glitter appeared on the charts again in 1984 with Another Rock and Roll Christmas and Dance Me Up, Glitter was playing more than 80 shows a year. Glitter no longer owns the master rights to his songs — meaning he no longer receives any royalties. In 2019, his song Rock and Roll Part 2 featured in hit movie The Joker, but rights holders insisted he would not receive any earnings.
