At a glance: Guinea

Background

Click for a detailed map (PDF)

This map does not reflect a position by UNICEF on the legal status of any country or territory or the delimitation of any frontiers.

Warfare in neighbouring Liberia, Sierra Leone and Côte d’Ivoire has caused more than 1 million refugees to flee to Guinea in the past decade. Children in Guinea remain vulnerable to food shortages, lack of clean water, and preventable diseases. Medicines have been in short supply since the government stopped subsidizing health-care services in 2004.

• Children under age five in refugee camps have lower rates of malnutrition than those in the general population. Fully one third of children are stunted.
• Just over half the population has access to safe drinking water sources.
• A cholera epidemic affected 2,500 people between April and October 2005, killing 85. Outbreaks of yellow fever were also reported.
• HIV/AIDS has orphaned thousands of children. Orphans and other vulnerable children usually have to leave school and work to survive.
• Children who are separated from their parents often become the victims of violence, abuse, exploitation or trafficking, or are recruited into militias.
• Girls’ school enrolment rates lag significantly behind those for boys.
  
  

• Working with the Guinean government, UNICEF and its partners responded quickly to the cholera epidemic and launched campaigns to stop the spread of yellow fever.
• More than 2.2 million children under age five have been immunized against polio. Two tetanus campaigns were also undertaken in 2005.
• UNICEF delivered essential drugs to 69 health centres, including 200,000 doses of measles vaccine for children being repatriated to Liberia. The children also received therapeutic feeding and high-energy biscuits before going home.
• More than 500 latrines were built, and 20 wells were equipped with pumps, improving access to safe water and reducing the risk of diarrhoea for nearly 20,000 people.
• UNICEF and its partners built 33 classrooms in refugee camps, allowing more than 1,300 children to resume their education. Educational materials were distributed and 150 teachers were trained to provide psychosocial support to children affected by war and violence.
• The Guinean government signed an agreement with Mali and Côte d’Ivoire to prevent child trafficking across the borders of the three countries.