Introduction
Sierra Leone is a small country in coastal West Africa, bordering Guinea to the north and east and Liberia to the southeast.
It has a special significance in the history of the transatlantic slave trade. It was the departure point for thousands of West African captives. The capital, Freetown, was founded as a home for repatriated former slaves in 1787.
It is a predominantly Muslim nation, though with a large Christian minority. Sierra Leone is ranked as one of the most religiously tolerant nations in the world.
Sierra Leone is rich in diamonds and other minerals, but the trade in illicit gems, known as "blood diamonds" had a big role in funding conflicts. In 2002, with the help of Britain, the former colonial power, and a large United Nations peacekeeping mission, Sierra Leone emerged from a decade of cruel civil war that had had caused at least 75,000 deaths, the deliberate mutilation of thousands, a generation of former child soldiers and the destruction of the healthcare infrastructure.
The infant mortality rate, which until 2005 was the highest in the world, is
largely caused by malaria, diarrhoea, malnutrition and common infections.
Economic recovery has been slow partly because the reconstruction needs are great. Around half of the government revenue comes from foreign donors. The restoration of peace was expected to aid the country's promotion as a tourism destination in the long term. Sierra Leone boasts miles of beautiful beaches along its Atlantic coast.
The country has relied on Mining, especially Diamonds, for its economic base;
it is among the top 10 diamond producing nations in the world, and mineral
exports remain the country's main foreign currency earner. Sierra Leone is
also among the largest producers of Titanium and Bauxite, and a major producer
of Gold. The country has one of the world's largest deposits of Rutile. Sierra
Leone is also home to the third largest natural harbour in the world; where
shipping from all over the globe berth at Freetown's famous Queen Elizabeth II
Quay. But despite this natural wealth, over 70% of its people live in poverty.
Graphs
Other information
Related websites: http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/sierraleone_statistics.html | http://www.mdgmonitor.org/factsheets.cfm |http://www.sl.undp.org/Goal1.htm | http://documents.wfp.org/stellent/groups/public/documents/newsroom/wfp216147.pdf
Population and language: The population of Sierra Leone is estimated at
just over six million people comprising of over 20 ethnic groups, including
Temne, Mende and Creole. While English is the official language, many tribal
languages are also used. In Freetown , Krio is the second language spoken,
which is a form of pigeon English encompassing tribal words.
Economy: Sierra Leone possesses substantial mineral, agricultural and fishery resources. Agriculture constitutes the most important sector of the economy and provides livelihood for over 80% of the population, making it a major contributor to the country’s GDP. Diamonds and other minerals form a substantial portion of the country’s export earnings. Other important products include timber, gold, bauxite, rutile, iron ore, coffee and ginger.
Government: Sierra Leone is governed through the framework of a
presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of
Sierra Leone is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform
multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government, and
legislative power is vested in both the government and the House of
Representatives. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the
legislature.
Environment: Sierra Leone is
situated in the Upper Guinea Rainforest region, and over 70% of the country’s
land area was once covered by primary tropical forests. Today, the forest is
fragmented and only 5% remains. The most significant block of the remaining
primary forest is concentrated in the East/South-East – the Gola rainforest
bordering Liberia.
Food availability: Food
availability in Sierra Leone depends largely on domestic production and
marketing. Agricultural production in the country however, is predominantly
rain fed; both total and spatial distribution of rainfall is critical to
production. The two most important economic activities in rural Sierra Leone
are rice farming and tree crop farming. Some livestock, cash crops, fishing,
forest resources and off-farm income activities also characterize this sector
to various degrees. Most farming communities, however, face considerable
hurdles to sell their produce to generate income due to poorly developed road
and market infrastructures, limited storage and processing facilities, and
high transaction costs. Moreover, due to many years of abandonment because of
the civil war, vast areas of plantations totally reverted to bush with
over-grown weeds.
Infrastructure: Car accessibility determines both how easy it is for
villagers to sell their crops outside the village and their opportunities for
buying food and other goods from elsewhere. Most of the villages are
accessible by trucks or 4 wheel drives. Even when the roads are passable, most
cannot be used by normal cars. This significantly increases transportation
costs and makes many tree crop farmers dependent on particular buyers who
arrive in the village with 4 wheel drives. Poor transport means that farmers
growing a small surplus are often unable to take it to the
market. Because of this, they may be unable to earn money that could be
re-invested in the production and lead to a gradual improvement of yields. A
study by the West Africa Rural Development Association (WARDA) suggests that
due to poor transportation infrastructure, surpluses from highly productive
but remote areas do not reach the urban markets, where the prices are higher.
The country has few roads, little running water and less than 10% have access
to electricity.
Healthcare
- The healthcare system was largely destroyed in the war along with much of the other vital infrastructure. Now the Sierra Leone government is struggling to improve facilities - many of which were burnt down or destroyed.
- To mark Sierra Leone's 49th anniversary of the country's independence from
the United Kingdom (UK) on 27 April 2010, a free healthcare plan for pregnant
women, breast-feeding mothers and children under five years old was launched.
The policy, announced by Sierra Leone’s President, Ernest Bai Koroma, will
abolish fees paid for medical attention and provide drugs and treatment
without payment in every public healthcare facility in the country. The
impoverished nation, has some of the world's highest maternal and child death
rates, resulting partly from unaffordable health service fees and the high
cost of medication.
Historical, political, economical and social situation and context
Despite two successful conclusions of elections, since the end of the civil
war in 2001, Sierra Leone faces major challenges in development and good
governance.
Almost 70 % of the 5.7 million population live below the poverty line.Sierra
Leone remains at the bottom of the Human Development Index [HDI] table in
position 180 out of 182.High unemployment, especially of youth, lack of basic
service delivery and corruption bear a risk of renewed conflict.Drug
trafficking with its links to international criminal networks poses a further
threat to stability.
Progress in rehabilitating the economy and building up basic health and
education services has been slow. Due to wretched conditions in which the vast
majority of the population livesLife expectancy in Sierra Leone is 48/50, or
just over half of the life expectancy in the top 20 ranked countries.
The balance of civil warfare in Sierra Leone (1991-1999) is tragic: a huge
number of victims (at least seventy-five thousand among a population of four
and a half million people), two thirds of the population forced to flee to
Guinea and Liberia, thousands of people abducted or deliberately mutilated.
There are horrifying violations of human rights, especially among children:
recruited as soldiers as early as the age of eight, they are drugged and sent
off to murder even their own friends and family members. Many of them have had
limbs cut off, one of the most common and brutal "acts of
hostility" practiced with a machete by the rebels in their attacks. Civil war
has completely destroyed Sierra Leone’s healthcare infrastructures. The
overall healthcare situation is still alarming: the country has the world’s
highest infant mortality rate, due largely to malaria, which is extremely
widespread. Vaccination programs were of course interrupted during the war,
and are now being resumed with great difficulty, with the aid of international
organizations; poliomyelitis is still common, however, revealing how far we
still are from the goal of totally obliterating this illness.
The number of malnourished children requiring aid and hospitalization in
adequate facilities is still very high, but public healthcare centres and
hospitals lack equipment and qualified
personnel are unwilling to work for low wages in highly precarious conditions.
In Sierra Leone healthcare is not free: there is no charge for hospital
admission, but there are fees for all treatments, medicines, operations and
doctors’ services. This means that many people cannot afford treatment, and
even minor problems such as a fracture will degenerate into serious
pathologies and irreversible deformities.
Identified humanitarian needs
The humanitarian needs can be best summarised as follows:
Health
The few health indicators available in Sierra Leone convey an alarming health
status:
- Infant mortality rate is currently [Demographic and Health Survey,2008]
estimated at 123/1000 live births, under five mortality rate at 194/1000 live
births .
- In 2008, the maternal mortality ratio was estimated by the MOH at
860/100,000 live births, one of the highest in the world.
- Malaria: Sierra Leone is a stable malaria endemic country, and the disease
has been a leading cause of morbidity and mortality.In 2008, 30% of the
children under 5 received malaria treatment.
- Acute respiratory infections [ARI]: prevalence among children 0-59 months is
very high and is the leading cause for mortality [28% of all under 5 years old
mortality].
Malnutrition
The results of the most recent national nutritional survey [2008] conducted by
the World Food Programme [WFP]/Unicef indicate that approximately 10.2 % of
children under five are wasted and 40% are stunted.These nutrition rates did
certainly not improve in 2010, and are considered as an emergency.WFP stopped
giving treatment for the moderately malnourished because of lack of
funding.However, part of the moderately malnourished will be treated in the
community based management of acute malnutrition [CMAM] programme because of
the use of the new World Health Organisation [WHO] growth standards.
Recommendations
The Government of Sierra Leone has fully acknowledged that the key to
development of rural areas is in agricultural production, processing and
market access. Donors should assist the Government in giving a boost to
agricultural production, processing and marketing, especially for smallholder
farmers and rural youths.