2009 Statistics on LIFE CONDITIONS IN south sudan

AN EXCERPT FROM AN ARTICLE WRITTEN BY BRIAN SMITH ON JUNE 29, SERVES AS A GRIM BACKDROP TO DESCRIBE THE DAUNTING TASK FACING THOSE WHO LIVE IN SOUTH SUDAN, AND THOSE ENDEAVORING TO HELP IMPROVE THE LIVES OF THE PEOPLE LIVING THERE.

     South Sudan faces a massive humanitarian crisis in what the United Nation’s humanitarian coordinator for Sudan, Lise Grande, describes as a “perfect storm”. The Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), signed in January 2005 between the Sudanese government and the Southern ruling elites and backed by the United States, is in danger of unraveling. It has been shown to be incapable of solving the basic needs of the vast majority of the population.                

     The Observer newspaper quotes revealing statistics on the shocking state of South Sudan —  larger than France with 10 states, almost 50 tribes and 400 dialects. There is one doctor per 500,000 people and three surgeons in the whole country. One in six women die in childbirth, and there are only three midwives. A 15-year-old girl has a higher chance of dying during pregnancy than of completing school. About three percent of people have access to sanitation. The region suffers from 15 of the world’s 16 deadliest diseases that are long eradicated in other African countries like measles, polio and leprosy, which adds to malaria, cholera, acute respiratory disease and HIV. Only 27 percent of the girls are in school.  There are 1000 primary school students per teacher. Female illiteracy is 92%, compared to 62% in Darfur.

     An estimated two million people died during the north-south civil war through violence and disease, and four million people lost their homes and were displaced. There is now permission by the authorities for the return of refugees and internally displaced people (IDPs). Two million people have so far returned from neighboring regions, from North Sudan, and from Kenya and Uganda. A report by the International Organization for Migration states that conditions for the returning IDPs remain dire. They arrive into towns and villages where there are no basic services or facilities — no shelter or healthcare, poor sanitation, no food or clean water, no jobs and little chance of education.

     Increased violence has forced over 130,000 people to flee their homes in the south in the first half of 2009. Over one thousand people were murdered in THE Jonglei and Upper Nile states in the border region between north and south Sudan in the first three months (January through March) of this year.  Cattle are being stolen, and children are being kidnapped and traded. The South Sudan government has shown itself to be powerless to maintain order.