ZORZOR, Lofa County – In a area the place entry to important drugs can decide whether or not somebody lives or dies, one younger nurse is quietly constructing a well being motion from the bottom up. Regardless of the shortage of assist for entrepreneurs in rural areas, Henry Pewee Nyandebo is discovering new methods to ship the important treatment and healthcare that grateful residents on this rural a part of the nation are in any other case unable to entry.
By James Papy Kwabo Jr. and Peter Kollie with Alternate Youth Radio and New Narratives
Specialists say he’s additionally exhibiting what may be completed when innovators are given an opportunity to seek out options. And he’s exhibiting his younger friends that they’ll begin to handle issues themselves.
“Cease calling your self ‘deprived’,” is the message Nyandebo provides to different younger folks. “You may be poor however nonetheless make a distinction. Begin one thing. Assist somebody. Be the change.”
Nyandebo is a skilled nurse, licensed psychological well being clinician, and baby and adolescent psychological well being specialist, who was born and raised on this city. He studied at Phebe Esther Bacon College of Nursing and Midwifery, now a part of Lutheran College. Following his commencement, he determined to stay in Zorzor to assist his folks. However quickly after he began working on the Curran Lutheran Hospital in Zorzor, he realized the deep challenges dealing with his neighborhood.
“Typically, the medication was there. Different instances, we had the abilities, however not the medicine,” Nyandebo mentioned. “Sufferers would come, and we needed to ship them away to go and purchase treatment exterior of the hospital.”
Working within the hospital gave Nyandebo an perception into the funding, infrastructure and provide chain points which are plaguing well being supply within the nation. A 2024 joint report by the IMF and Liberia’s Ministry of Well being confirmed that almost one in three Liberians nonetheless lives greater than 5 kilometers from the closest well being facility, which means many die earlier than they’ll get assist. Liberia has .37 well being staff for each 1000 folks in accordance with the World Well being Group, far beneath the WHO’s really helpful 4.5 well being staff.
In distant counties like Lofa, the state of affairs is much more extreme. A 2023 Ministry of Well being evaluation revealed that two in each three clinics within the area routinely lack constant medical provides.
Fairly than ready for presidency options, Nyandebo determined to resolve them himself. He first arrange a personal drugstore, a licensed outlet permitted to promote solely over-the-counter (OTC) medicines and fundamental well being provides. Drugstores in Liberia are usually not licensed to dispense prescription medicines or managed substances and are usually operated by skilled dispensers quite than licensed pharmacists.
Nyandebo’s small drugstore met a requirement. It served as much as 30 folks a day. Now, as a part of his enlargement efforts, he’s establishing a pharmacy, which is legally permitted to inventory and dispense each prescription and OTC medicine beneath the supervision of a licensed pharmacist.
Nyandebo additionally realized that there have been many individuals in distant villages who couldn’t make it to his retailer. So he started delivering important medicines on his bike, increasing outreach to forgotten cities and villages throughout Zorzor and Salayea Administrative Districts in Lofa County.
“The First Time in Years We Have Peace”
In Borkeza City, 20 minutes’ drive from Zorzor, Daniel Korboi’s household had struggled for a decade to assist his youthful brother. As soon as energetic, at age 18, his persona modified. Korboi’s brother grew to become unpredictable; generally aggressive, different instances silent and withdrawn; traditional signs of the psychological well being illness generally known as schizophrenia.
“We tried every thing,” Korboi mentioned. “We took him to clinics, known as conventional healers, gave drugs, however nothing lasted.” When he was lastly recognized by a health care provider, the household couldn’t sustain with the prices of treatment.
“When Henry got here, he didn’t ask for cash. He simply helped him,” Korboi mentioned. Nyandebo started offering an antipsychotic drug that he delivers as soon as a month by injection. The household now pays a small, inexpensive payment. It has modified every thing.
“Now my brother is secure. He can fetch water, go to the farm, and comply with directions. It’s the first time in years we have now had peace.”
In Zelemai, half-hour from Zorzor, Henry Mulbah described a uncared for wound that grew to become contaminated and virtually price him his leg.
“He got here and handled me with no delay. Advised me we’d discuss fee later. That saved me,” he mentioned.
Nyandebo has needed to self-fund his rising empire, one thing that has slowed him down.
“Entry to loans is sort of not possible with out collateral,” Nyandebo mentioned. “Most of us beginning in rural areas don’t have household land titles, guarantors, or formal enterprise information to fulfill the banks.”
As a substitute, he scraped collectively startup funds by means of private financial savings and a small mortgage of $L125,000 from a pal. He has by no means had entry to formal authorities assist, a microloan program, and even mentorship.
“There aren’t any small enterprise coaching facilities for rural youth,” he mentioned. “No technical grants. And while you method establishments, they see you as too small to take critically.”
Luther Jeke, govt director at iCampus Liberia, an entrepreneurial coaching group, mentioned younger entrepreneurs in Liberia’s rural communities face far better obstacles than their city counterparts in Monrovia.
“There’s an actual divide,” Jeke mentioned in an interview. “The whole lot from the highway community, the challenges of getting from one village or city to a different to electrical energy, web entry, and clear, secure ingesting water.”
Liberia lacks a cohesive nationwide framework to hyperlink youth-driven companies with sustainable capital and technical assist, mentioned Jeke. “There’s this situation about entry to finance, particularly microfinance loans and different grants for younger folks in enterprise. A lot of the civil society organizations, innovation hubs, donors launching youth entrepreneurship packages, even the banks, are all headquartered in Monrovia.”
This urban-centered focus, he mentioned, leaves hundreds of promising rural youth with out the instruments, funding, or mentorship wanted to scale their initiatives, mirroring broader nationwide struggles to make sure equitable improvement.
In the meantime, Nyandebo’s function in rural well being supply is gaining quiet recognition from inside the broader system.
A senior member of the native well being authority in Zorzor, talking on situation of anonymity as a result of he was not licensed to talk to the media, mentioned that regardless of Nyandebo’s unofficial standing, his contributions are deeply appreciated.
“Regardless that he’s not an assigned authorities of Liberia well being employee, within the absence of enough sources, we worth what he’s doing locally,” mentioned the official. “He’s serving to folks achieve direct entry to important well being providers and medicine in locations that will in any other case be utterly reduce off.”
The administrator mentioned Nyandebo’s operations are aligned with native well being rules and his precept of helping these in want no matter their capability to pay has earned him widespread belief and respect throughout financial divides.
Not everybody has welcomed his problem-solving method. Nyandebo has confronted pushback from skeptics who query how a nurse can ethically run a drugstore or pharmacy and accuse him of “bypassing protocol”.
“In Liberia, while you do good, folks will nonetheless criticize. However I concentrate on care. That’s what issues,” Nyandebo mentioned.
And for each critic there are numerous extra supporters. “Individuals not stand in lengthy traces. His service is dependable,” says Johnson D. Forkpa, a youth chief in New Zorzor. “We’ve seen outcomes the place authorities providers have failed.”
Nyandebo has urged the Ministry of Well being, skilled boards, and philanthropists to assist youth innovators like himself not simply with reward, however with sensible backing: coaching, provides, partnerships, and most of all, entry to capital.
“With mentorship and operational assist, we will attain extra folks. I’m not doing this for me. I’m doing this for my folks and my nation.”
This story was a collaboration with New Narratives as a part of the “Investigating Liberia” challenge. Funding was offered by the Swedish Embassy in Liberia. The funder had no say within the story’s content material.
