Claim: This government has built more hospitals than all the governments before me.
Verdict: Incorrect, data shows that the president is wrong on the data.
Full Text: In Liberia, following a series of crises including Ebola and Covid-19 outbreaks, the country is battling with the quality and quantity of its health workforce that requires action.
When incumbent lawmakers endorsed Liberia’s President, George Manneh Weah, he claimed (31 minutes 02 seconds) that his government has built more hospitals than the government before him.
According to the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC), the June 13 event was an endorsement of incumbent lawmakers for Weah’s re-election bid.
This is not the first time the claim has been made. When Weah toured Montserrado County in Logan town, he told (1:21:54 seconds) citizens that he has constructed more health facilities as compared to previous governments.
Weah spoke on Monday, August 15, 2022, in Logan town, outlining his government’s development
“I have built hospitals more than all the people that came before me.”
Does the claim by Weah add up when we look at the numbers?
Verification: Over a decade of civil war in Liberia (1989–1997 and 1999–2003), the country has its share of the devastated health system that led to the Ministry of Health Workforce Program (HWP) Strategy from 2015–2021 that reports that 293 public health facilities, of which 242, were destroyed during the 14-year civil crisis.
Also, the Health Sector Performance 2006-2017 Evaluation Report, published in January 2018 states that by 2005, over 90% of Liberia’s healthcare services were delivered by external agencies and NGOs and over three-quarters of the Liberian population had no access to referral health care including emergency obstetric services.
After an assessment in 2007 only 300 health facilities (including county hospitals, health centers and clinics were in Liberia, most of them dilapidated.
There was important progress in Health infrastructure development from 2009 to 2011.
This increased physical access to health infrastructure nationwide by 20.7% over a one-year period (2009-2010) and led to the reduction of one health facility serving an average of 8,000 of the population in 2006 to 5,500 in 2010. (https://www.visitinfinity.com/)
By 2017, 71% of the population lived within a 5-km radius of health facilities and County Health Teams planned, executed and constructed over 300 new facilities (Hospitals, Health Centers and Clinics,) and upgrading of others to increase to 85%.
By 2018, 84% of facilities were providing the Basic Package of Health Services nationwide.
There are 15 counties in Liberia and the Ministry of Health, 2006 The data shows existing facilities in counties but fails to distinguish health facilities that were constructed or rehabilitated.
William V.S Tubman was the 19th president of Liberia and the longest-serving president in the country’s history; he served from his election in 1944 until hhe diedin 1971 while William Richard Tolbert Jr. served as the 20th president of Liberia from 1971 until 1980.
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was elected President of the Republic of Liberia in 2005 and 2011. While George Weah was elected in 2017.
Here are some of the hospitals built by former presidents and compared to those of President Weah. Please note we did not include health centers and clinics in this fact-check. Also, data on hospitals built by Samuel Doe and Charles Taylor was not found.
Conclusion: The data has shown three hospitals built by Weah; therefore the claim that he has built more hospitals is False.
