About Us

The Foundation for Restoring Women’s Healthcare to Liberia, a 501 (c)(3), also known as Healthy Women Healthy Liberia, was organized to develop improved healthcare in Liberia for women without access to adequate healthcare facilities. Faced with the daunting health statistics for Liberia, including the 5th worse maternal mortality rate and 18th worse infant mortality rate in the world, and with fewer than 55 physicians for the entire population of almost 4 million, Dr. Christiana Hena, MD, of Liberia and Marcella Ruch, PhD, from the United States, teamed up to establish a healthcare center, where Dr. Hena became the Medical Director.

Mission

The Mission of Healthy Women, Healthy Liberia is to promote the health of the people and educate patients through comprehensive, sustainable, community-based Primary Health-Care.

Vision

The Vision of Healthy Women, Healthy Liberia is to transform communities using community-based health care models for medical and dental care through education and services, especially for women and children.

Beliefs

The Foundational Beliefs of Healthy Women, Healthy Liberia are:

Healthy Women, Healthy Liberia is a Christian medical ministry. We believe in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and acknowledge Him as Son of the Living God (Matt 16:16) and follow Jesus’ Great Commission (Matthew 28:16-18) under whose authority we serve. “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” (John 15:12)
Healthy women are necessary to establish and maintain healthy families and communities, efficient health systems and a strong economy.
Women’s healthcare is not a “women’s issue”; it is about the well-being of everyone in the community – men, women, boys and girls who depend upon healthy women and mothers.
Women are tied closely to their families and communities; consequently, healthcare must be local, affordable and accessible.
Smart investments in women’s health increase the cost-effectiveness of resources allocated to the health sector and have spill-over benefits in education and work productivity.

History

Dr. Chris Hena, a Liberian born medical missionary, spent decades implementing successful community based healthcare programs in Russia, Armenia, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan where she lived for ten years. After the KGB’s influence diminished, Dr. Hena became the first United Methodist missionary to serve in Russia in over seventy years. She is now working to reform the Liberian healthcare system through an initiative called “Healthy Women, Healthy Liberia.” Dr. Hena holds a medical degree from Kuban Medical College in Krasnodar, Russia and a Masters in Public Health from Emory University. She moved to Liberia in August 2012 to lead this effort.

Dr. Hena developed the framework for the Liberian health education initiative while still living and working in Kazakhstan. The program was implemented by organizing the Kakata, Liberia communities in ways to identify and initiate preventative care programs unique to each community. Specific focus was to be on improving maternal and infant healthcare, improving the nutritional status of women and children, restoring and maintaining community water and sanitation, and reducing the incidence of non-communicable diseases.

Dr. Hena and Dr. Marcella Ruch, PhD, met in 1998, when Chris spoke at Marcella’s church in Colorado Springs. They kept in contact over the years and Marcella continued to support Dr. Hena’s missionary work, and she made two medical mission trips to Russia to bring medicine and supplies. Later when Dr. Hena met with Marcella again in Colorado, they watched the film “Pray the Devil Back to Hell” and discussed what could be done to help the brave women who stopped the Liberian war and to help their families and communities to recover.

In early 2011, while working together with a team of like-minded medical doctors, nurses, and other professionals, Dr. Hena and Marcella established a 501(c)(3) , The Foundation for Restoring Women’s Healthcare to Liberia, Inc., operating under the name, “Healthy Women, Healthy Liberia.”

After another year of organizing, planning, and fact-finding mission trips, a non-governmental organization (NGO) was registered in Liberia for the purpose of developing and implementing the first community-based primary healthcare for women and children living in Margibi County. Dr. Hena moved to Kakata, Liberia in August 2012 to run the program. Marcella and the rest of the Board began to focus on fundraising and development of the support organization in the US.