An RCP team travelled to Liberia last week to participate in the 40th Annual General and Scientific Meeting (AGSM) of the West African College of Physicians (WACP).
The meeting – on the theme of 'Building a resilient health system in West Africa: Social, economic and political implications' – was opened by Liberia's minister of health Dr Bernice T. Dahn. During her presentation, Dr Dahn discussed the remarkable progress made in rebuilding the country's health systems after the devastation of the 14-year civil war, the impact of the 2014 Ebola epidemic, and the ways in which the ministry of health is working to 'restore gains lost due to the crisis'.
RCP head of international affairs Steve Crump and project manager Sarah Sharma then gave a series of presentations on the M-PACT project – the 3-year collaboration between the RCP and the WACP aimed at addressing the challenges posed by HIV/AIDs, tuberculosis and malaria by providing intensive training on managing these communicable diseases for 630 West African physicians at five newly established regional 'centres of excellence'.