Sierra Leone: Child and maternal mortality worst in the world – UNICEF

Sierra Leone has the highest child and maternal mortality rates in the world because of underinvestment in health programs, malnutrition, and harmful cultural practices, UN children's agency (UNICEF) Executive Director Ann Veneman told journalists in the Sierra Leone capital.

4 Mar 2008

Woman in the Grafton community, eastern Freetown, which was a camp for displaced people during the 1991-2002 civil war. Sierra Leone has the highest rate of maternal and child mortality in the world. (Image: Nicholas Reader/IRIN)

“Child mortality in this country is the worst in the world at 270 deaths per 100,000 children born,” Veneman said on 29 February, the last day of her three-day visit to the West African nation.

“If you're a child born in Sierra Leone you have a more than one in four chance of not living to see your fifth birthday,” she noted.

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