Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Foya (Agenzia Fides) - "The mission of Foya is always at the forefront", writes Fr. Lorenzo Snider, priest of the Society for African Missions (SMA) in the north-west of Liberia. The missionary talks about the activities and the health situation in the country, where in addition to Covid there is fear of Ebola, which is again active in neighboring Guinea. "Our parish, dedicated to the Holy Cure of Ars, borders with Sierra Leone and Guinea. We began the Lenten journey with apprehension and fear, especially for the staff of our Health Center, the Foya Health Center.
The mission truck is available at all times and often becomes an emergency ambulance, and we feel a bit like a field hospital", reports the missionary". Even the spectrum of Ebola - continues Fr. Snider - which a few months ago represented a real threat and which recalled the tragedy of the epidemic of 2014-16, after the cases verified a few kilometers from the border, has now downsized. The intervention of the volunteers of the NGO Doctors Without Borders and the application of the protocols quickly circumscribed the area and prevented the spread of the virus". Another concern for the Liberian population, particularly among the weakest, is typhoid fever, which - the missionary explains - like malaria, is endemic throughout the region. The vaccine should lead to the immunization of the entire population under the age of 15 in a few months, with a state-of-the-art program". (LS/AP) (Agenzia Fides, 14/5/2021)
