Africa-Press – Liberia. First Lady, Madam Kartumu Yarta Boakai, has called for establishment of a National Mental Health Plan for Liberia.
Liberia’s First Lady, Madam Kartumu Yarta Boakai, has called for the establishment of a National Mental Health Plan that is responsive and inclusive, while rallying partners at TUFH 2025 Global Health Cultural Dinner held in Langhorne, Pennsylvania, the United States to support Liberia’s maternity and neonatal health crisis.
Delivering a special remark at the gathering, Madam Boakai reminded the audience that every day in Liberia, women risk their lives to give life, adding that many give birth on hospital floors, while others never make it to a facility at all.
According to the First Lady, Liberia’s neonatal mortality rates are alarming, but with partners’ help, they are reversing.
She disclosed that from Bomi to Pipeline to Duport Road hospitals, women are being seen; mothers are being honored, and babies are being welcomed with care, not chaos as they have seen and witnessed in a video.
Championing the urgency for the establishment of the National Mental Health Plan, Madam Boakai stated that in many African societies, including Liberia, mental health is still whispered because too often, it’s met with silence, stigma, or shame. At the same time, the pain that is buried does not die, rather, it only festers.
“Let me now walk you through the very real and urgent challenges we’re tackling, challenges that reveal both the depth of the crisis and the hope we carry: Liberia desperately needs trained professionals, equipped centers, and a National Mental Health Plan that is both responsive and inclusive. That is why I call on partners such as the Mollie Woods Hare Global Center of Excellence, whose mission to set clinical standards, train providers, conduct research, and support policy for neurodivergence is both admirable and needed.” She urged.
She stated that Liberia is recovering from trauma of war and also from the echoing differences of systems too long neglected.
She stressed that these differences are no longer abstract; rather, they cry out in Liberia maternity wards, in the anguish of mental illness, and in the growing shadows of youth addiction.
“Many of our health centers lack even the basics—electricity, water, and trained staff—yet our women go on giving birth with courage. I have looked into the eyes of teenage mothers. I have comforted parents who lost children to preventable diseases. I have even held the hands of young men and women battling substance addiction with no access to mental health care. And I asked myself: “How can we sit comfortably in our positions and pretend we don’t hear these cries? I could not. So, I rose—not with wealth, but with faith, conviction, and a deep sense of duty.” She concluded.
Ms Boakai and delegates recently joined Senior Executives of Woods System of Care and TUFH and other health and international development partners at the TUFH 2025 Global Health Cultural Dinner held in Langhorne, Pennsylvania, United States of America.
The gathering was graced by Madam Tine Hansen-Turton, CEO of Woods System of Care, Madam Dawn Diamond, CEO of Woods Services, Mr. Nicholas Torres, CEO of the Network Towards Unity For Health TUFH (for short), Executives and Board members of Woods System of Care, Global changemakers, and dignitaries, among others.
The TUFH 2025 Global Health Conference is a unique gathering that aims to transform healthcare through innovation, inclusion, and compassion. On the other hand, the dinner seeks to unite in purpose, powered by a shared responsibility to shift paradigms and challenge assumptions in global health equity.
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