Introduction

Despite the importance of strengthening primary healthcare, the global funding agenda is often not well aligned with the burden of disease and the needs of society in different countries. There may be more of a focus on specific diseases and technologies than on strengthening health services and systems. Notwithstanding the global context for health research, for healthcare professionals working in primary care, health research can still play a key role in improving the quality of care, enhancing the responsiveness of services and informing outreach and prevention, as well as promoting the articulation of primary care services with other levels and components of the health service and with sectors outside health whose mandates broadly address the social determinants of health. Liberia is one of the poorest countries in the world. It survived a debilitating and protracted civil war that witnessed some of the worst atrocities against civilians in the twentieth century.