Guinea

LOCATED IN SUB-SAHARAN Africa and bordering the Atlantic Ocean, Guinea is one of the poorest nations in the world. Guineans survive on an annual income of approximately $410. Some 40 percent live below the national poverty line, and nearly a quarter of all children under the age of 5 are malnourished. In rural Guinea, 35 percent of all households lack access to safe water, as do 28 percent in urban areas. Some 58 percent of Guineans lack access to adequate sanitation.

Even though only 3.63 percent of Guinea's land is arable, 80 percent of the labor force are engaged in the agricultural sector. Approximately 80 percent of all agricultural workers are unpaid female workers. International efforts are now being directed toward increasing rice production in Guinea. Teams from the Japanese government and from Emory University's Carter Center are working with Guineans to enhance agricultural knowledge and technology to increase food production.

Some three-fourths of all Guinean exports derive from the mining sector. Guinea is the second largest producer of bauxite in the world but has been unable to adequately develop a substantial potential for mineral and hydropower resources. Electing only two presidents since 1958, Guinea has traditionally enjoyed political stability, but the addition of approximately one million refugees from four bordering countries has threatened this stability and added to the ranks of those who rely on the government's social net for survival. In 2003, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank cut off all assistance to Guinea.

With a life expectancy of 49.86 years, the median age of Guinea's population of 9,467,866 is 17.67. Some

44.4 percent are under the age of 14, and 3.2 percent are over the age of 65. Guineans have a 35.9 percent chance of seeing a 40th birthday.

Guinea suffers what the World Health Organization calls a “galloping” HIV/AIDS rate of 3.2 percent. Estimates for 2003 place the number of current HIV/AIDS cases at 140,000, and 9,000 Guineans have died from the disease and its complications. Guineans have a very high risk of contracting food- and waterborne diseases such as bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever. In certain areas, the risk of contracting malaria and yellow fever is also high.

Other common diseases that affect Guineans are meningococcal meningitis, a respiratory disease; schistosomiasis, a disease spread through contact with infected [Page 450]water; and Lassa fever, which is contracted through exposure to infected aerosolized dust or soil. About 23 percent of all children under 5 are moderately to severely malnourished. Some 26 percent of these children suffer from moderate to severe stunting, and nine percent suffer from moderate to severe wasting. Guinea's infant mortality rate is high at 90.37 deaths for every 1,000 live births, but female infants are somewhat hardier than male infants (84.76 to 96.82).

Childhood mortality for children under 5 is declining, but high incidences of diarrhea, malaria, and acute respiratory infections contribute to the 160 out of 1,000 mortality rate. Through the National Safe Motherhood Program, the Guinean government has pledged to reduce neonatal mortality by 50 percent by 2010. Since the creation of the Expanded Program on Immunization, Primary Health Care and Essential Medicines, Guinea has been able to provide basic healthcare to 60 percent of the population, and to increase the number of childhood vaccinations to 69 percent.

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