Liberia spent 15 years recovering from a brutal war. Then came ebola
Life in Liberia before the epidemic— and today
Research by Wudan Yan
Photography by Francois Beaurain
200
trained doctors in the whole of Liberia prior to the epidemic. Most left when the outbreak started
85%
of Liberians are officially unemployed
90%
of Liberians earn less than the national average of $410 per year. A loaf of bread costs around $1.50
49%
spend most of their income on food
25%
of Liberians do not have access to clean water
11
years since the end of the civil war that ripped apart the country and destroyed most of its services
4th
poorest country in the world
1
dollar a day. That’s how much 83 percent of Liberia’s four million citizens make
Zero
On March 21, 2014, a 35-year-old woman from the northern town of Foya — on the border with Guinea and Sierra Leone — became the outbreak’s first victim in Liberia. She is the country’s patient zero.
9
hours of curfew were introduced across Liberia each night on August 20 to prevent the disease spreading
$12m
spent by Liberia to manage the outbreak between April and June—more than the country’s entire health budget
17
ebola patients escaped a quarantine facility in Monrovia on August 18, causing widespread protests and rioting
58%
fatality rate in Liberian ebola
78
health workers have died so far in Liberia, out of 2,184 confirmed cases — more than anywhere else
150%
increase in the price of cassava, a staple food for Liberians, since the outbreak started
15,000%
Acceleration of human-to-human transmission of ebola—more likely occurred in the last four months than in the previous 500 years
Photo credits, from top: Animations by Francois Beaurain (8); John Moore/Getty Images (6); Abbas Dulleh/AP (2)
