Amy Waddell
Amy Waddell is a communications intern for medical aid agency Merlin who's working in Liberia. The West African country is recovering after 14 years of civil war, which resulted in 250,000 deaths and displaced hundreds of thousands of people. Merlin is working with the health ministry to rebuild hospitals and clinics, supply medicines and equipment, and train and supervise health workers.
Water, a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow?
In Grand Gedeh County in Liberia, a day's health assessment involves a very small jeep, five grown men and me. Merlin and the County Health Team are following up on increasing reports of pertussis, or whooping cough as it's more commonly known - one of the biggest killers of children under five. ...
Liberians lack healthcare, education to beat malaria
It was meant to be a routine trip, visiting four of the ten clinics Merlin supports in Liberia's remote Grand Gedeh County. Bumping along dirt roads for hours, I gazed out at the dense, green bush and tried to keep up with the debate about European football - the Liberian man's passion - going on around me. We were just pulling back onto the main road, after an hour at our first clinic, when the Merlin ambulance sped past. It had been called out for a little girl with malaria at Toe Town Clinic, an hour and a half away. ...
