The Israeli Ambassador accredited to Liberia, H.E. Mrs. Sharon Bar-Li who is also resident in Accra, Ghana has disclosed that her government has provided a donation of 462 kilogram of antibiotics to the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare for onward distribution to Liberia’s health facilities, stressing that “I did not want to come to Liberia empty handed”.

She made the disclosure when she paid a courtesy call on Foreign Minister Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan on Monday, June 22, 2015 at his Foreign Ministry’s Office on the Capitol Hill.

Ambassador Bar-Li also stated that Israel has started training Liberian professionals from the various counties saying this is another area that Israel can contribute meaningfully to the cause of humanity.  It may be recalled that the State of Israel was the second country in the world that put money in the Ebola trust fund contributing 8.5 million United States dollars toward the recovery programs in the Ebola affected region.  

Furthermore, she noted that her country will be deeply involved with capacity building initiatives, mainly in the training of Public prosecutors in Liberia which she said would be done in collaboration with the United Nations agencies stressing that more professionals from Israel are expected here in Liberia soon to commence this training exercise.

According to her, Israel will help train Liberians in critical areas of technical assistance, capacity building, especially the training of professionals. The Israeli Envoy indicated that training people to support Liberia recovery plan will be one of Israel’s main priorities in this post Ebola era.

The Ambassador assured   Liberia’s Foreign Minister Ngafuan that with the vast experience Israel has in terms of disaster management, medicine and emergency response, her country will be here to provide its   expertise among the post Ebola recovery process, especially in the health and legal sectors.  “Now that the crisis is over, lots of opportunities have emerged to rebuild Liberia, she stressed.  

For his part, Liberia’s Foreign Minister Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan, said the outbreak of the Ebola virus disease in Liberia was a potential threat that has the propensity to reverse the country’s recovery.

Minister   Ngafuan recalled that Israel was one of the countries that came to Liberia’s  aid  during the darkest hours of the outbreak  attributing  the success against the virus to the fast sighted  and outstanding leadership quality of  President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf,  and the resilience of the Liberian people.

At the same time, the Minister   stressed that although the Ebola virus has been eradicated occasioned by the declaration of Liberia as an Ebola free nation on May 9, 2015   by the WHO, Liberia remains concerned about the persistent reports of new cases of Ebola in neighboring Guinea and Sierra Leone, noting that Liberia is in deep solidarity with the two sisterly republics, where the disease continues to ravage their populations.

While hailing the Government and the People of Liberia for the critical and tough measures the nation undertook including the “non-shaking hands” restriction, the Minister emphasized that Liberians cannot be totally complacent owing to reports of new cases of the disease in the two neighboring states.  

”So we saw the danger we had to face it, we had to transform the attitudes  of our people  including no shaking  hands measures” as obvious as shaking hands is,  we were not shaking hands we had to do that in order  to save ourselves and to save others. Ebola is an attitude disease, he stressed.

He said, the Ebola outbreak has social and psychosocial effects and at the same time, pointed out that with just few months after the end of the Ebola crisis in Liberia, the country has embarked on a rigorous recovery plan to improve the nation’s health system, which can only be a “success story” through the support of the international partners like the State of Israel.   He indicated that the five year post Ebola recovery plan will mainly tackle the health sector with education and security topping post Ebola priorities.

Minister Ngafuan pleaded with the Israeli Ambassador for more assistance in providing professional expertise in the recovery initiatives as Liberia embarks on building a new and vibrant health system.

Commenting on security challenges in view of UNMIL’s drawdown from Liberia, the Minister said Government has a plan to expand the training of personnel of the Liberia National police and other paramilitary organizations so as to fill the security gap after UNMIL departs, but sighted a huge resource implication.  

“The security sector, especially when UNMIL drawdown is requiring more and more resources. We need more resources to cater to education, health, and the security sector which is becoming more and more of a challenge. That’s why, we are calling on our partners to see how they can come in and help us, with post Ebola the security challenges when UNMIL  leaves  ” He added.