Congo

Congo, also known as Congo-Brazzaville, is distinct and independent from its western neighbor, the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Once a French colonial holding, the west African state gained independence in 1960 and was for many years a Commu-nist-dominated government. The collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s led to a power struggle and a civil war from 1997 to 1999. A new constitution took effect in 2002.

The population of Congo is 3.7 million and growing at a rate of 2.6 percent annually. The birth rate is 42.57 per 1,000 and the death rate is 12.93 per 1,000. Migration is minus 3.62 per 1,000. Over a third of all Congolese live in the capital city of Brazzaville, which has a population of over 1.2 million, and another 700,000 live in the coastal city of Pointe-Noire.

The petroleum industry dominates the Congolese economy, followed by lumber, sugar, cocoa, coffee, and diamonds. Insufficient domestic food production has resulted in a dependence on food imports, which most cannot afford. Per capita income in Congo is $750, and almost 35 percent of the population live below the poverty line. Life expectancy is 52.8 years, with healthy life expectancy at 45 for men and 47 for women. Infant mortality is 81 deaths per 1,000. Another 108 children per 1,000 die between the ages of 1 and 5. Maternal mortality is 510 deaths per 100,000 live births. Forty-four percent of women have access to birth control. Eighty-six percent of births are monitored by trained attendants, and 88 percent of women receive prenatal care.

Fifty-eight percent of Congolese have access to clean drinking water and only 27 percent have adequate sanitary facilities. This leaves the population at high risk for gastrointestinal diseases, predominantly bacterial diarrhea. Tropical diseases are also common. Malaria is endemic, with 4.3 million cases in 2003 alone, and is among the main causes of mortality in young children. Congo has also faced multiple outbreaks of the Ebola virus since 2001.

HIV/AIDS affects 5.3 percent of the adult population, with about 120,000 Congolese currently living with the virus. Women under the age of 35 are more than twice as likely to contract the virus as men. There is little framework for treatment or educational programs and little money for antiretroviral drug therapies. Almost all women receive treatment to prevent mother-to-child transmission of the virus, keeping the number of children younger than 15 with HIV down to about 15,000.

[Page 444]A medical structure exists on paper but does not function well in practice. Government expenditure on health is $12 per capita per year; the Congolese pay 100 percent of their health expenses out of pocket, and most do not have the available cash. Educational programs are defunct. Hospitals lack equipment, drugs, supplies, reliable power, and adequate sanitation. In the Pool region, home to 180,000 people, there were reportedly only five doctors and two midwives to treat that entire population. The support and assistance of nongovernmental organizations remains critical.