Tiyatien Health: Justice in Health

Posted by LTM on Mar 1, 2011 in Non Profits | 0 comments

In 2007, Tiyatien Health was founded by a survivor of Liberia’s civil war. In Zwedru, Liberia, it all began with Dr. Rajesh Panjabi, a Liberian-born, Harvard trained doctor, and Weafus Quitoe, a volunteer nurses aide in Zwedru. Tiyatien Health soon grew to become an innovative social justice organization that partnered with rural communities and the Liberian government to improve the lives and the health care system for the poor.

Tiyatien Health is an amazing organization working to bring community-based health systems to the
less fortunate and is designed to be implemented by the poor themselves to create a self sustainable
health care system. By creating a health care system around these dynamics, Tiyatien Health believes it will serve as a model for rebuilding healthcare in rural towns stricken by the detrimental effects of civil war and unrest.

Tiyatien Health, along with the Government of Liberia work together to create stable relationships
between rural health centers and their surrounding communities. The way TH goes about solving this health crisis by focusing on three major points of the system; battered public sector, health workforce shortages, and rampant poverty.

“Our model features a backbone of community health workers trained to accompany patients through their illnesses and beyond — linking the destitute sick to jobs, agriculture and economic empowerment programs. This approach fills a crucial gap between health centers and the community, allowing the public sector to provide comprehensive care for people with complex illnesses like HIV and epilepsy that previously went unaddressed.”

- Tiyatien Health