Togo

Formerly french togoland, the Togolese Republic won its independence from France in 1960. Togo was governed by military rule for the next several decades. The government has repeatedly been accused of human rights violations, and the political situation remains unstable. Because of the accusations, most bilateral and multilateral aid to Togo is frozen, although the European Union has resumed some aid in exchange for promises of political reform. More than 46 percent of Togo's land area is arable, and the 65 percent of the labor force that is engaged in the agricultural sector is employed in both commercial and subsistence agriculture. Nevertheless, some basic foods are imported. Cocoa, coffee, and cotton are the chief export crops, generating around 40 percent of the Gross Domestic Product. Togo ranks fourth in the world in phosphate production. Other natural resources include limestone and marble. With a per capita income of $1,700, Togo ranks 191st in world incomes. Almost a third of the population lives below the national poverty line, and over a fourth of Togolese are seriously undernourished. The United Nations Development Programme's Human Development Reports rank Togo 143 of 232 countries on overall quality-of-life issues.

Bordering on the Bight of Benin in the Atlantic Ocean, Togo has a 56-kilometer coastline and 2,400 square kilometers of inland water resources. Togo shares land borders with Benin, Burkina Faso, and Ghana. Northern lands are comprised of gently rolling savanna that gives way to hills in central Togo and to plateau in the south. The coastal plain contains extensive marshes and lagoons. Elevations range from sea level to 986 meters at Mont Agou. The length of Togo extends for 317 miles, allowing it to stretch through six distinct geographic zones. The tropical climate is hot and humid in the south and semiarid in the north. Togo is prone to periodic droughts, and the north experiences the harmattan, a hot, dry, dust-laden wind that accelerates the pace of environmental damage and reduces visibility in the winter months.

Togo's population of 5,548,702 is at great risk for the environmental health hazards that go handin-hand with poverty and an unstable political system. One of the major threats comes from the 4.1 percent adult prevalence rate for HIV/AIDS. Some 110,000 Togolese have this disease, and another 10,000 have died with it since 2003. Only 35 percent of rural residents and 51 percent of all Togolese have sustained access to safe drinking water. In rural areas, only 17 percent have access to [Page 1746]improved sanitation, as compared to 34 percent of all Togolese. Consequently, the population has a very high risk of contracting food and waterborne disease that include bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever, the respiratory disease meningococcal meningitis, and the water contact disease schistosomiasis. In some areas, there is a high risk of contracting vectorborne diseases such as malaria and yellow fever.

Because of environmental health factors, the Togolese have a lower-than-expected life span (57.42 years) and growth rate (2.72 percent), and higherthan-expected infant mortality (60.63 deaths per 1,000 live births) and death (9.83 deaths/1,000 population) rates. The low literacy rate (60.9 percent), particularly among women (46.9), contributes to the high fertility rate (5.4 children per female) and adds to the difficulty of disseminating information on birth control and disease prevention.

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