Health: As health is the first step towards recovery, Save the Children manages 53 primary health care facilities with local partners. Some of the centers represent the first social service infrastructure established in South Sudan in almost 20 years. Our centers treat children with diarrhea, malaria and respiratory infections and provide women with prenatal care, labor and delivery services and postnatal care. We also offer immunizations, distribute insecticide-treated bed nets and Vitamin A. Other health projects create and rehabilitate water supplies and educate families on hygiene and sanitation.
- Population: 39,379,358
- Population Growth Rate (annual %): 2.1
- Life Expectancy at Birth (years): 49
- Infant Mortality Rate (per 1,000 live births): 92
- Children Under-5 Mortality Rate (per 1,000 live births): 90
- Lifetime Risk of Maternal Mortality (1 in number stated): 30
- Adult Male Literacy Rate (% of males 15+): 72
- Adult Female Literacy Rate (% of females 15+): 51
- Population with access to an improved water source (%): 70
Sources: CIA World Factbook, World Bank, UNDP HIV/AIDS: As refugees return from countries with high rates of HIV/AIDS infection, there is the potential for a spike in Sudan's relatively low HIV infection rate. Save the Children has worked with local partners to make Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) available at health centers. Through VCT, individuals who test positive for HIV can receive counseling and be referred to available care and support services, such as support groups, treatment of infections, and prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV. In 2007, 40 peer educators delivered messages on HIV/AIDS to over 87,700 individuals and distributed over 85,000 condoms.
Education: Save the Children and other members of the International Save the Children Alliance are increasing children's access to basic education in eight states of Southern Sudan: Lakes, Warrap, Northern Bahr el Ghazal, Western Bahr el Ghazal, Unity, Jonglei, Western Equatoria and Upper Nile. Through our Rewrite the Future campaign, we provide an accelerated learning program for out-of-school children and vocational opportunities for young people ages 14-18. We are improving the quality of education by training teachers, training teacher tutors, and by making sure schools have latrines, clean water and teaching materials. As of 2007, 3,390 children had completed our accelerated learning program, allowing them to re-enter school. We had trained 450 female teachers and built seven schools and one teacher training facility.
