Sierra Leone KEY FACTS Joined Commonwealth: 1961 Population: 6,092,000 (2013) GDP p.c. growth: 0.5% p.a. 1990–2013 GNI p.c.: US$680 (2013) UN HDI 2014: World ranking 183 Life expectancy: 46 years (2013) Under-five mortality rate (per 1,000 live births): 161 (2013) Largest contribution to mortality: Respiratory infections Government health expenditure: 2.5% of GDP (2012) General information The Republic of Sierra Leone (Portuguese for ‘Lion Mountain’) in West Africa is bordered by Guinea to the north, Liberia to the south-east, and the Atlantic to the south and west. Climate: Tropical and humid all year, but cooler on the coast. The dry season is November–May, when the dusty harmattan wind blows from the Sahara; the rainy season lasts the rest of the year. Environment: The most significant environmental issues are depletion of natural resources during the civil war; deforestation and soil exhaustion due to over-harvesting of timber; expansion of cattle grazing and slash-and-burn agriculture; and overfishing. Population: 6,092,000 (2013); 39 per cent of people live in urban areas. The population growth rate stood at 1.8 per cent p.a. between the years of 1990 and 2013. In 2012 the birth rate was 37 per 1,000 people (46 in 1970) and life expectancy was 46 years (36 in 1970 and 40 in 1990). Population figures are unreliable because during the civil war in the mid-1990s up to 50 per cent of the population had to leave their homes in a mass migration to towns and neighbouring countries. The vast majority of the people are of Bantu origin: Temne (35 per cent in the 2008 census) and Limba (eight per cent) people mostly in the Northern Province; Mende people (31 per cent) live in the Southern province and Eastern province. Additionally, there are nine other Bantu ethnic groups, including Kono (five per cent), Mandingo (two per cent) and Loko (two per cent). Krios (two per cent) are descendants of formerly enslaved 19th-century immigrants who live mostly in and around Freetown. The small Lebanese community, mostly of traders, decreased during the 1990s. Economy: Sierra Leone is classified as a low-income economy by the World Bank. Health Child and maternal health: Infant mortality in Sierra Leone was 107 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2013, with an under-five mortality rate of 161 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2013. There has been a consistent decline in the under-five mortality rate since 1993. Although this decline is encouraging, the under-five mortality rate is not yet in line with the country’s target of 89 deaths per 1,000 live births as defined by Millennium Development Goal 4 (MDG 4). In 2010 the three most prominent causes of death for children below the age of five years were acute respiratory infections (17 per cent), malaria (14 per cent) and diarrhoea (14 per cent). Other contributory causes were prematurity (nine per cent), intrapartum-related complications (nine per cent), measles (six per cent), neonatal sepsis (five per cent), congenital anomalies (four per cent) and injuries (four per cent). In 2013 Sierra Leone had an adjusted maternal mortality ratio of 1,100 deaths per 100,000 live births (this figure was estimated at 890 deaths per 100,000 by UN agencies/World Bank in 2010). Burden of disease: The Ebola outbreak of 2014–15 has claimed 3,687 lives in Sierra Leone so far, according to the World Health Organization (WHO; March 2015). The first confirmed case in Sierra Leone was in May 2014, the outbreak having begun in Guinea several months earlier. The international response was headed by the United Nations and the WHO, with many charities 258 Commonwealth Health Partnerships 2015
Commonwealth Health Partnerships 2015
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