Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf urged the United States and other outside countries to continue their support as the West African nation recovers from the Ebola epidemic, The Associated Press reports via Yahoo! News.

The West African nation prepares to refocus its attention on infrastructure projects so that they could better combat disease outbreaks in the future.

Sirleaf said focusing on infrastructure projects would prevent another contagious epidemic from becoming "a global menace." She urged nations to help Liberia, particularly with power projects to keep hospital equipment running, roads so the sick can access medical facilities, and clean water to prevent diseases from spreading.

"Our own limited resources have not enabled us to take them to the level where they could ... be in a preventive mode," she said. "And that's the support we want. The great lesson in all these things, you know, whether you're dealing with conflict or whether you're dealing with disease, is to emphasize prevention rather than cure. It costs so much when you have to fix it."

The 2011 Nobel Peace Prize winner was elected president in 2005 after years of civil war in Liberia. She was re-elected six years later.

Sirleaf is traveling to Washington later on this week to meet with U.S. president Barack Obama. She will discuss Liberia's economic recovery since the Ebola crisis and the response to the deadly disease.

"We were slow. The world was slow. Everybody was fearful. It was an unknown enemy," Sirleaf said about her nation addressing the Ebola outbreak.

The leader said she was grateful for the international help when it arrived which included the deployment of 2,800 American troops.

Schools began to open last week while Sirleaf recently lifted an overnight curfew that was set back in August in an attempt to contain Ebola. Liberia's border with Sierra Leone was officially opened Sunday as well.

Ebola is not entirely wiped out, however, but just a few people are still being treated.

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