EASING JFK’S BURDEN: GOV’T, LDS CHURCH BREAK GROUND ON 100-BED DUPORT ROAD MATERNITY HOSPITAL TO SERVE TENS OF THOUSANDS
BY: Rufus Divine Brooks Jr.
PAYNESVILLE, Montserrado County, – The Government of Liberia and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints broke ground Thursday for a new 100-bed maternity hospital at Duport Road, a flagship project officials say will deliver safer childbirth to one of Greater Monrovia’s fastest-growing communities and reduce pressure on overwhelmed referral hospitals.
First Lady Kartumu Y. Boakai, serving as the government’s Maternal and Neonatal Health Champion, joined church leaders to turn the soil at the site of the existing Duport Road Health Center.
The facility, co-funded by the Church and the Ministry of Health, is planned with a neonatal intensive care unit, delivery suites, laboratories, and operating theatres.
“From Hope to Transformation”:
The groundbreaking comes a day before Monrovia hosts the Strengthening Families Conference 2026, the eighth edition of the church’s annual interfaith gathering.
Liberia is hosting for the first time after Sierra Leone staged the 2025 edition in Freetown.
“This hospital is the concrete expression of the conference’s message that strong families anchor national development,” Elder Adeyinka A. Ojediran, a General Authority Seventy of the Church, told dignitaries. “Today we break ground, but more importantly, we plant hope.”
First Lady Boakai framed the project as personal. She recalled visiting the Duport Road clinic years ago, near a community where she once lived, and challenging her office to act after finding conditions wanting.
“Today transcends a groundbreaking ceremony,” she said. “What once represented hope is now becoming a symbol of transformation.
True faith gives, True faith builds and True faith transforms.”
Addressing Liberia’s Maternal Health Crisis:
The Duport Road facility will serve a catchment population placed in the tens of thousands.
Health workers at the current center report more than 200 deliveries monthly, underscoring demand in Paynesville.
Health Minister Dr. Louise Kpoto, an obstetrician-gynecologist, called the maternity center the project she most wants completed before her tenure ends.
She linked it to the Ministry’s 365-day initiative to reduce maternal and neonatal deaths.
“Access to quality health care is not a privilege,” Elder Ojediran said. “It is fundamental to dignity and progress.”
Liberia carries one of the world’s highest maternal mortality burdens. Officials at the ceremony said delays in reaching care contribute to preventable deaths.
The renovated hospital is designed to ease congestion at John F. Kennedy Medical Center and Redemption Hospital, which routinely absorb referrals from surrounding communities.
Rep. James Kolleh of Bong County District 2 said the Church is financing eight projects nationwide, including one hospital, three clinics, and four schools. Montserrado County Superintendent Rory Bryant noted church members raised more than $100,000 in offerings toward the work.
Senior Presidential Advisor Prof. Dr. Augustine Konneh, representing President Joseph Boakai, called maternal and newborn protection “a governance imperative, a moral duty.” The contractor, Echo Smart Builders International, was recognized at the program.
The Inter-Religious Council of Liberia endorsed the Strengthening Families Conference, which opens Friday at the EJS Exhibition Complex.
Organizers described the free, two-day event as a platform for religious leaders, civil society, traditional leaders, and government to explore ways of strengthening families as the foundation of a stable nation.