UN Resident Coordinator Remarks at Closing Ceremony of 3rd International Community Health Workers Symposium – Friday March 24th

• Excellency Chief Dr. Jewel Howard Taylor, Vice President of the Republic of Liberia
• Excellency Madam Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Former President of the Republic of Liberia
• Honorable Dr. Wilhemina Jallah, Minister of Health of the Republic of Liberia
• Dr. David Walton, US President’s Malaria Initiative, US Global Malaria Coordinator
• Distinguished Ministers, Representatives of the African Union and Africa CDC, Partners, Colleagues and Friends
• Dear Community Health Workers here present

It is a great pleasure for me to speak on behalf of the United Nations system in Liberia at the end of this 3rd International Community Health Workers Symposium which has been a great success in every respect.

I would like to recognize and thank the Government of Liberia (through the Minister of Health), who for several months has spared no effort to ensure with a strong political willingness and a strong leadership to make this symposium a success.

The leadership of the Minister of Health, Dr. Wilhemina Jallah has been instrumental at each step, from preparation and the effective realization of this symposium. She had no doubt, despite all the challenges she met, that the symposium will be a success, and it is a success.

This is consistent with the political willingness shown by the high authorities of this country, by making access possible, to basic social services of health, education, children and social protection, development of youth's potential in line with pillar I of the PAPD (Pro-poor agenda for Prosperity and Development).

The Covid-19 pandemic draws our attention to the fact that health coverage can only be universal if it is extended to the most difficult to access segments of the population, especially those in rural areas. The convincing results that the country has achieved in terms of Covid-19 vaccination coverage is also the result of the dedication of the actors of the system from the central level to the decentralized level, and of course community health workers. This gives relevance to such a symposium and the choice of Liberia to host an event of global significance is not only the recognition of the progress that the country has made in community health but to a large extent, the recognition of the work, commitment, and dedication of Community Health workers, who deserve to be saluted here.

The United Nations system in Liberia is pleased to have been a stakeholder in the initiation and co-organization of such a symposium. I would like to reiterate our continued commitment to stand by the government in the realization of national priorities as stipulated in the PAPD. The success of this symposium will be completed only in the effective implementation of the relevant recommendations that came out of it. Let's be the ranks for the post-symposium to be even more successful than the symposium itself.

On behalf of the United Nations system, I would like to thank all the donors and civil society actors, both national and international, who have invested technically and financially in the success of this symposium. We would like to express our deepest gratitude to USAID, Last Mile Health, Susan Thomas Boffet Foundation, Health System Global, Global Fund, World Bank, and my UNICEF and WHO colleagues, and to tell them how much we are proud of them.

Thank you very much