Monrovia-Ten years after Ebola swept through Liberia and claimed thousands of lives, the world is still turning to this small West African nation for answers. On Sunday, in a wide-ranging conversation, Chris McCall of The Lancet’s World Report—the respected news section of one of the world’s oldest and most trusted medical journals—sat down with Gregory T. Blamoh, Secretary General of the Liberia National Red Cross Society (LNRCS), to revisit an outbreak that reshaped the country’s approach to public health emergencies.
For McCall and The Lancet’s World Report, the conversation with Mr. Blamoh was part of a broader examination of how countries once devastated by epidemics have transformed hard-won experience into lasting institutional memory. For Liberia—and for the Red Cross volunteers who experienced the response on the front lines—it was another opportunity to tell a story the world has not stopped listening to.
As Mr. Blamoh put it, Liberia’s Ebola experience “isn’t just history—it’s a roadmap other nations are learning from.” A decade later, those lessons remain as relevant as ever: preparedness saves lives, community action makes a difference, and resilience is built together. For Mr. Blamoh, the interview was another reminder that Liberia’s Ebola story has become more than a chapter of grief and loss. It has evolved into a case study referenced in classrooms, policy discussions, and global conversations about how countries can prepare for the next epidemic threat.
“Our success in the Ebola response was collective. Every Liberian was involved and learned from the response. Systems have been put in place, and every Liberian is fully aware of Ebola. And if we were to have any recurrence, the impact will not be as devastating as the first outbreak.”-Mr. Blamoh said.
The Power of Collective Action
That collective response was built on the ground by community volunteers, many of whom were mobilized through the Liberia National Red Cross Society. During the Ebola outbreak in 2014 and [2025—verify year], the Liberian Red Cross was among the key responders. Often, it was Red Cross volunteers—trained, equipped, and trusted by their neighbors—who stood on the front lines of the response, helping to prevent further transmission through four key areas of intervention that remain central to the organization’s emergency work today.
Ten years on, those four pillars—Safe and Dignified Burial, Risk Communication, Contact Tracing, and Psycho-social Support—remain embedded in Liberia’s emergency preparedness architecture. The Liberia National Red Cross Society has continued to train volunteers, strengthen early warning systems, and keep communities informed, helping ensure that the country is better prepared for future public health emergencies.
Safe and Dignified Burial
Key among these interventions was Safe and Dignified Burial (SDB), one of the most sensitive and, at the time, misunderstood components of the response.
Ebola can also be spread through contact with the bodies of people who have died from the disease, making traditional burial practices a significant concern during an outbreak. LNRCS-trained burial teams, 240 members, working in full protective equipment, took on the difficult responsibility of safely managing the remains of 3,820 Ebola victims while preserving as much dignity and cultural respect as possible.
It was a delicate balance that required constant and careful engagement with grieving families, community members, and traditional leaders. Beyond the technical demands of safe burial, teams had to build trust and explain why established burial practices had to be adapted to protect families and communities from further transmission.
Risk Communication and Community Engagement:
Alongside burial teams, Red Cross volunteers led sustained awareness-raising and risk communication campaigns, going house to house, market to market, and community to community to explain how the virus is spread and how it could be prevented. In a crisis defined as much by fear and misinformation as by the virus itself, these conversations became one of the response’s most powerful tools. Volunteers worked to correct rumors, dispel myths, provide accurate information, and build the trust needed for other response interventions to succeed. The experience demonstrated a lesson that continues to shape humanitarian response today: communities are not simply recipients of information—they are essential partners in saving lives.
Contact Tracing
Contact tracing formed the third pillar of the Red Cross contribution. Volunteers systematically identified and monitored people who had been in contact with confirmed cases, following them throughout the 21-day incubation period and alerting health authorities at the first sign of symptoms. This community-level monitoring helped health authorities identify potential cases early and contributed to efforts to contain chains of transmission before they could develop into new clusters. The work required discipline, persistence, community trust, and close coordination with health authorities—qualities that became essential throughout the Ebola response.
Psycho-social Support
The response also recognized the profound psychological toll the outbreak took on survivors, families of victims, communities, and responders themselves. Psycho-social support (PSS) was therefore woven into the Red Cross response, providing counseling and community-based support to help people cope with grief, stigma, fear, and trauma. For many communities, the effects of Ebola continued long after the outbreak was officially declared over. Psycho-social support helped survivors and affected families navigate the difficult process of recovery while addressing the stigma and emotional distress that accompanied the disease.
Lessons That Live On
A decade later, Liberia’s Ebola experience continues to demonstrate the importance of preparedness, community trust, local leadership, coordination, and volunteer action. The Red Cross volunteers who stood at the center of the response were more than emergency responders. They were members of the communities they served—neighbors, family members, and trusted voices who helped translate public health messages into action.
Today, the systems, knowledge, and community networks strengthened during the Ebola response continue to inform Liberia’s preparedness for future emergencies. Liberia’s Ebola story is therefore not only a story of loss. It is also a story of collective action, learning, resilience, and transformation. As Gregory T. Blamoh reminds us, the experience “isn’t just history—it’s a roadmap other nations are learning from.”
Ten years later, the world is still listening to Liberia. And Liberia’s lessons still matter.
