By Nasratu Kargbo
Tonkolili District is said to have recorded 398% child mortality for the period 2021 -2022, according to a presentation by Institute for Governance Reform’s (IGR) Executive Director, Andrew Lavali and Director of Research Policy Fredline M’Cormack-Hale.
In their presentation at the launch of the Building Accountability Systems through Empowered Communities (BASE) project on the 26th of October 2023, M’Cormack-Hale said that amongst the six districts where the project will be implemented, Tonkolili got the highest mortality.
The district is followed by Falaba with 136% and Western Area Rural with 19%, whilst all other districts recorded a decrease.
Highlighting the overall statistics of mortality for children under age five, she stated that there is a slight reduction of -6%, the number of deaths in 2021 was three thousand six hundred, and ninety-nine (3699) and three thousand four hundred and sixty-six for 2022 (3466).
Showing the statistics for maternal mortality, the Director explained that in 2021 the country had one thousand nine hundred and eighty-one (1981) deaths, noting that the figures dropped by 68% in 2022, with deaths decreasing to six hundred and forty-three (643).
Speaking on specifics, M’Cormack-Hale stated that in their findings, Falaba is the only district with an increase of 117% in maternal mortality, as discovered during their research but said they will ensure they uncover the reason behind the numbers.
She added that in all the other five districts, there has been a decrease, with Karene and Tonkolili recording a rapid decrease of -97% and -95% respectively, Kono with -63%, whilst Moyamba and Western Area Rural recorded 47% and 46% respectively. “The idea of the project is for it to even go down more, there is a lot of positive momentum to build on,” the Director said.
Lavali in his presentation said that they asked people whether they know where to complain if they have a problem with government-supported medical care, and that 52% of the people said they do not know where to complain, whilst 38% said they know where to complain.
The Minister of Health and Sanitation, Dr. Austin Demby responded to the Statistics highlighted in the presentation, stating that the numbers have dropped from being a country with the highest maternal mortality in the world to a drastic drop of four hundred and forty-two deaths (442).
“442 is the fastest drop in all of Africa,” the Minister said.
He explained that the drop is due to the efforts made by the government, having designed programmes to ensure that no one is left behind. The Minister called on the project implementers to work together to ensure they get the desired results.
According to statistics from the Programme’s Strategy and Baseline findings, four of the six district councils where the project will be executed have experienced a decline in the source-owned revenue; Falaba decreased by -11%, Karene by -13%, whilst Kono and Moyamba decreased by -30% and -44% respectively.
BASE is a consortium of civil society organizations that are charged with the responsibility of implementing the project. The 3.5 million dollar project which is funded by the United States Government through USAID focuses on agriculture, education, and health.
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