Expressing gratitude to several leaders at Yale, including those in the School of Public Health, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia described her high hopes for the African nation at Battell Chapel on Thursday.
“We want to make Liberia a post–conflict success story in which the United States has made a great contribution,” she told the audience.
President Sirleaf lauded Yale in particular for being “instrumental” in supporting the country’s budding health care system, one of several focus areas prioritized by a government that’s emerging from years of civil war and political upheaval. The Yale School of Public Health is training surgeons and staff at two hospitals in the capital of Monrovia in pre– and post–surgical safety protocols with a “Safe Surgery Saves Lives” checklist designed to improve patient care and avoid potentially fatal errors. In addition, the Mother Patern College of Health Sciences/Stella Maris Polytechnic, also in Monrovia, has partnered with YSPH and the Clinton Foundation’s HIV/AIDS Initiative to offer a Health Systems Management course, developed in response to the vision of Liberia’s Minister of Health to equip health care professionals with leadership skills and problem–solving tools. Professor Elizabeth Bradley, director of Global Health Initiatives at Yale, oversees research and outreach for these initiatives.
The school also is involved in an ongoing effort to renovate the John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital, which was a jewel of the country’s health care system before the war. Jim Tomarken, a Yale–Clinton Foundation Fellow, is managing the renovation of JFK’s physical plant while also building capacity among the Liberian hospital management team in leadership, project management and facility renovation skills.