SOS Children in Equatorial Guinea
Despite the exploitation of large oil reserves in the 1990s, life for most in Equatorial Guinea has not improved, and this country still ranks very near the bottom of the United Nations Human Development Index. With a population of fewer than 700,000, it is one of Africa’s smallest nations. Since the oil boom, its citizens have suffered from deteriorating health and education services.
You can help SOS Children support orphaned and abandoned children in Equatorial Guinea by sponsoring a child:
Sponsor a child in Equatorial Guinea
The ‘resources curse’
By 2004, Equatorial Guinea was the third largest producer of crude oil in Sub-Saharan Africa. However, thousands of Guineans still do not have access to clean running water and as a result suffer from waterborne diseases such as cholera and diarrhoea. In this tiny country, 20,000 people are HIV positive and lack of awareness means that thousands more lives are at risk. The public health system is poorly financed, with only 25 doctors per 100,000 people. Although supposedly a constitutional democracy, some believe that elections have been manipulated since the 1990s. UN reports claim opposition groups appear to face oppression and torture – an allegation the President refutes.
Children in Equatorial Guinea
- Equatorial Guinea’s infant mortality rate is 75 children per 1,000 live births. UK infant mortality for 2011 was 4 out of every 1,000.
- Although malaria rates are high, only 50% of under-fives afflicted by the disease receive anti-malarial drugs. Waterborne disease kills around 2 in 10 children.
- An estimated 45,000 children grow up without their natural parents; around 4,100 have lost their parents to AIDS.
- The number of child-lead households is growing rapidly, particularly in rural parts. Many households simply cannot afford education for their children.
- Thousands of children are in bonded or forced labour, and young girls are frequently forced into commercial sex work.
Our work in Equatorial Guinea
Bata
We began working in Equatorial Guinea in the late 1990s, when a nursery and a primary school were set up in Bata, the country's second largest city, as part of a programme to improve child welfare and the level of education.
We followed this by setting up a community in Bata which opened in 2000 on the same site, donated by the government in San Pedro de Lea, a mainly middle-class residential area about 2 km from the city centre which is well served by public transport. The community has ten family houses which are home to 100 children.
In 2001, an SOS Medical Centre was opened to provide medical care for the local people. With the capacity to treat over 2000 patients a year, the centre has a ten bed in-patient ward as well as an operating and delivery room.
Aids Orphans in Equatorial Guinea
Local Contact
Aldeas Infantiles SOS Guinea Ecuatorial
Apartado 200
Bata
Guinea Ecuatorial
Tel: +240/333 082375
Fax: +240/333 082375
e-mail: unamuno.francisojavier@sos-guineaecuatorial.org
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