Mortality, nutrition and health in Lofa County Liberia five years post-conflict

Liberia remains in transition from a state of humanitarian emergency to development, and Lofa County was the epicentre of recent conflict. This study aimed to estimate mortality and malnutrition and evaluate access to health services, water and sanitation. The survey was conducted in April 2009 and employed a 46 cluster×20 design (n=920 households) with probability proportional to size sampling. The crude mortality rate was 24.3/1000/year (CI: 19.0 to 29.6) or 0.67/10,000/day (CI: 0.52 to 0.81). The global acute malnutrition rate was 7.9% (CI: 5.4 to 8.9), and the severe acute malnutrition rate was 4.5% (CI: 2.9 to 6.7). Access to basic health services was relatively good according to a variety of indicators; however, access to sanitation was low, with 39.5% of households reporting access to toilets or latrines. Despite high rates of displacement and infrastructure destruction, population health appears to be relatively stable 5 years post-conflict, though a continued focus on reconstruction and development is needed.