Health Officials in the Republic of Liberia Call on School of Government Experts

Faculty member Aimee Wall works with North Carolina public officials in the areas of North Carolina social services law and animal services law. Until 2011, she worked primarily in the public health law field with health directors and others across the state. But when she was contacted in 2015 by Francis Kateh, former Anson County health director, she was asked to think a bit beyond her normal beat. Kateh, an expert in disaster preparedness, headed the response to the Ebola outbreak in his home country, the Republic of Liberia. Calling on his past experience with Wall, he wanted her help in creating or updating the legal tools that were needed—but not available—during the Ebola crisis in 2014.


"Outsmarting an Outbreak," an article in the March 8 issue of UNC's Endeavors magazine, details the sometimes dramatic, painstaking, collaborative, and critical work that Wall, School of Government research associate Jeff Austin, and other UNC colleagues led to help the country review its public health laws, rewrite its public health code, and look toward training and implementation that will help prepare for future public health crises in this newly democratic country.

 

Published March 9, 2017