Sierra Leone

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Today Sierra Leone, the West African nation traumatised by a brutal and drawn-out civil war, has faded from international attention. While the violent conflict that first drew people’s awareness has subsided, its terrible consequences continue. The ongoing struggle of Sierra Leone’s people and the lack of international support has made it increasingly difficult for Handicap International to keep up the work it started ten years ago. Yet there is much that remains to be done. The conflict, which came to an uneasy end in 2001, left a nation with 75,000 people killed, 2 million displaced, 5,000 child soldiers, and 20,000 people mutilated including 5,000 with damage to their upper limbs.

Handicap International has been active in providing psychological care for child soldiers and street children in two centres in Freetown and Goderich (in the Freetown suburbs), as well as in orthopaedic fitting and rehabilitation in Freetown, Bo and Koidu.

Key facts and figures

• Population: 5.5 million inhabitants* (1/11 the population of the UK)
• Surface: 71,620 km˛*
• Language(s):  English (official language), temne, mende and krio*
• GNP/inhabitants: $ 197* (Second poorest country in the world)
• Human Development Index: 0.298 (176/177) ***
• Under-fives mortality rate: 283 per 1000 births**
• Life Expectancy at birth: 41 years***

Sources:
* UN Statistics Division 2005
** WHO World Health Report 2006
*** UNDP United Nations Development Programme 2005

(c)U.Meissner for Handicap International The Freetown Amputee Football Team	History
(c)JP.Porcher for Handicap International A rehabilitation session	Our work
(c)Handicap International Teenager learning how to use his new artificial arms	Personal account
(c)Handicap International New rehabilitation centre built by Handicap International in Freetown	Medical conditions
(c)Handicap International Children victims of the civil war atrocities	Civil war trauma