southern sudan health system assessment - Health Systems 20/20

3.2 SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CONTEXT
Southern Sudan’s approximately 650,000 square kilometers – slightly smaller than France, or the U.S.
state of Texas – are mostly tropical savannah. About 71 percent of the land is suitable for agriculture
and livestock, 24 percent is forested, and 5 percent is arid/semi-arid. The rainy season lasts 7-8 months
in the south, 5-6 in the north. During the rainy season, flooding is common.
Southern Sudan has one of the least-developed economies in the world due in great part to traditional
neglect by the central government, and to devastation wrought by the civil war, during which physical
infrastructure, human resources, and social services suffered. Households have few assets and no access
to markets – upon independence there were no paved roads outside of the major cities of Juba, the
capital, Wau, and Malakal, and river traffic had all but ceased. Agriculture, mostly subsistence, and
livestock form the livelihood for 90 percent of the population (Sudan Tribune 2007). Crops, which
include sorghum, bananas, mangoes, lemons, and vegetables, are raised by hand and are readily affected
by the amount of rain that falls during the growing season. Agricultural production is also limited by the
fact that many fields and water points cannot be used because they contain landmines and unexploded
ordnance; while long-term residents have become aware of dangerous areas, the mines pose a particular
risk to new returnees. 3
Much skilled labor was lost during the civil war: as noted above, the war killed as many as 2 million
people and displaced an estimated 4 million. Ninety percent of the population lives on less than $1 per
day (JAM 2005); estimates for North Sudan are 60-75 percent (MoH/GoSS, n.d.) . Only one-fifth of
children are enrolled in primary school, and only about 20 percent of those enrolled are girls 4 (see Table
1). To end Southern Sudan’s historical isolation and poverty, investment is needed in roads (including
de-mining) and river and air transport; in energy, especially rural electrification; and in education and
training.
TABLE 1: SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS, SUDAN AND SOUTHERN SUDAN
Sudan
Southern Sudan
Population (million) 38 Estimations range between 8 and 12
Annual population growth (%) 2.1 3 (2003)*
Urban population (%) 24 2% (2003)*
Poverty rate (%) 60-75 90 (2003)*
School enrollment, primary (%) 60.4 20 (2000)**
Primary school completion (grades 1-5), total (%) 49.7 28 (2000)**
Ratio of girls to boys in primary school 89.0 40 (2003)**
Literacy rate, adult total (% 15 years and over) 60.9 (2000) 31.0**
Sources: WHO Core Health Indicators (2007), latest data, except where noted. * MoH/GoSS (2007). ** SPLM and
The New Sudan Centre for Statistics and Evaluation (2004)
The economic picture is not all bleak, for Southern Sudan has great economic potential. It has some of
the best farmland, water resources, and mineral and other natural resources in Africa – 85 percent of
Sudan’s 1.6 billion barrels of proven oil reserves are located there (there is a revenue-sharing plan with
the GoNU, and oil revenues currently represent most domestic revenue). And 2007 saw a 4 percent
3
The United National Mine Action Office reports nearly 2,400 landmine casualties occurred in the 2002-07 period and
estimates many more went unreported. Mine clearing of agricultural land is hampered by the fact that neither northern
Sudanese forces nor SPLA can provide information about where mines were buried, partly due to the guerilla nature of
the civil war, and government policy is to clear roads first (IRIN News Organization 2007).
4
An interim report on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) says 40 percent are girls (SPLM/New Sudan Centre for
Statistics and Evaluation).
7