Over 50% of the population lives in extreme poverty, with little or no access to health, food, water and sanitation facilities makes Guineans  prone to outbreaks and recurrences of life-threatening diseases. Since the beginning of the year, over 1,815 cases of cholera of which 150 deaths with a lethality rate of 8% have been recorded For over ten years, Guinea has hosted  over 1,000 million refugees as a result of warfare in neighbouring Liberia, Sierra Leone and Cote d'Ivoire, thus overstretching the Government's limited resources 16% of households live in food insecurity; 18% are at risk of becoming food insecure and only 25% of the population is considered food secure

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Press release in French on CERF allocation in Guinea to fight cholera and help flood affected (25 October 2007)

$9.7 million for urgent humanitarian activities in the Guinea

14 February 2007: The United Nations has made USD 9.7 million available from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) for urgent humanitarian activities in the West African country of Guinea.

The humanitarian situation in Guinea has increasingly become a source of concern since 10 January 2007, when a general nationwide strike was launched.  In particular, popular protest since 9 February over the choice of prime minister -- a key component of the deal struck to end the January strike -- and the subsequent declaration of a permanent curfew and martial law on 12 February have raised alarm.

According to a Government source, 110 deaths have been recorded since 10 January 2007, when the general strike began, with 60 of those fatalities having occurred between 9 and 13 February.  More than 500 people sought treatment for injuries in hospitals, clinics and other health centres between 9 and 13 February.

Fearing that the unrest could provoke population movements, particularly among the refugee population living in Guinea’s Forest region (Guinée Forestière), which numbers some 18,000 people, mainly from Liberia and Côte d’Ivoire, humanitarian organizations operating along the border are on alert and have been monitoring Guinea’s borders on a continual basis.  No unusual movement has been reported.

Ethnic tensions and weapon trafficking threaten the stability of the fragile Forest Region. [Photo: IRIN]

Additionally, four food warehouses had been looted -- two belonging to the World Food Programme (WFP), in Kankan and Labé; and two belonging to Government partners -- representing a loss of nearly 1,000 metric tons of food.  In addition, international commercial flights to and from Guinea have been suspended for the past week, as have all air relief operations.

The CERF funds are to be used for the purchase of medicines and other medical supplies for the injured, as well as to support essential telecommunications and a common humanitarian air service to ensure access to more remote parts of the country, such as Guinée Forestière.  These emergency projects will be carried out by the World Food Programme (WFP), the World Health Organization (WHO), the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), as well as the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), in collaboration with their non-governmental partners.

The UNICEF will provide an appropriate emergency response to children and women in the wake of recent violence. UNICEF will also support the delivery of safe drinking water and seek to strengthen the capacity of 14 hospitals and 21 health centres by providing medications, medical equipment and logistical support, while the WFP will strengthen agencies’ telecommunications capacity and run the common humanitarian air service made necessary by the lack of infrastructure, long distances between affected areas, and insecurity in Guinea.  Reinforcing the health, communications and transport sectors, and strengthening the protection of civilians have been identified as current priorities by the humanitarian community.

WHO will provide urgent traumatological and surgical care for people wounded by security forces during the general strike. Out of 2,000 protests victims cared for in the health structures of Conakry and its surroundings, more than 500 people are in need of surgical operations. 14 hospitals will receive trauma kits and the National Blood Transfusion Centre will be provided with blood transfusion supplies. WHO implements this project together with the Ministry of Health, the Guinean Red Cross and the National Blood Transfusion Centre. FAO will provide emergency support in agricultural inputs and tools to the households in the neighbourhoods of Conakry and other cities affected by the crisis.

Guinea is one of the 20 poorest countries in the world, ranking 160th (out of 177 countries) in the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)’s Human Development Index.

[Last Update: 28 March 2007]

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CERF in Guinea 2008

CERF in Guinea 2006

Press release in French on CERF allocation in Guinea to fight cholera and help flood affected (25 October 2007)