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Story Publication logo April 14, 2014

Building a Mental Health Infrastructure in Liberia

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Image by Jim Burress. Liberia, 2014.
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Years after the end of brutal, decades-long civil war, Liberia has little in terms of a mental...

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A mass grave marks the site where hundreds of Liberians were killed by fellow Liberians in the town of Barkedu, Lofa County, Liberia. Image by Jim Burress.

Two hundred fifty thousand: the estimated number of Liberians killed in an unthinkably horrific 14-year civil war.

One: the number of psychiatrists in Liberia when the war ended nearly a decade ago.

To say the west African country was left ill-equipped to heal the mental health wounds left by the conflict would be an understatement. But in 2004, that's exactly where the country of about 4-million people found itself.

Reporter Jim Burress presents an audio slideshow of how the country is working to build a mental health infrastructure and the problems it faces in doing so.

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