Liberia is a highly endemic country with 4.1 million people at risk of malaria. A 2011 Malaria Indicator Survey published in June 2012 named malaria as the leading cause of outpatient visits and inpatient deaths in the country, claiming 33% of all inpatient deaths and 41% of inpatient deaths among children under age 5. Despite year-round transmission, just half of households own at least one insecticide-treated net (ITNs), while 32% of the population reported sleeping under an ITN the night before the survey (37% of children and 39% of pregnant women). Half of all pregnant women received proper intermittent preventive treatment (IPTp).

Liberia’s health system has seen many disruptions during its turbulent past, with 15 years of civil conflict that ended in 2003, and government commitments and resources for health have increased since that time. Today, the country is a major recipient of foreign assistance, benefitting from three grants from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, which has distributed 1.8 million nets. Likewise, the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative, supports ITNs, indoor residual spraying (IRS), IPTp, and diagnosis with rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) or microscopy and treatment with artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT). Other donors include the Roll Back Malaria Partnership, the World Health Organization, the World Bank, the U.K. Department for International Development, many non-governmental organizations, and the private sector.

United Against Malaria launched in Liberia in 2012, ahead of the 2013 Orange Africa Cup of Nations. President Ellen Sirleaf Johnson, chair of the African Leaders Malaria Alliance, has championed the campaign, appealing to Africa's leaders in public service announcements throughout the country and the continent. 

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Partners

• Liberia Football Association