The survey shows that Koinadugu is the district with the highest deprivation rates for nutrition, with 22 percent affected by at least one form of malnutrition. Moyamba, Pujehun and Kambia also have nutrition deprivation rate, averaging 15 percent. The other districts that have nutrition deprivation rates above the national average of 12 percent are Port Loko and Bo.
The Child Poverty Report 2018 revealed that district which children are less likely to experience deprivation in nutrition are Western Rural Area and Kono where the proportion of nutrition – deprived children is half of the national average.
The Multiple Indicators Cluster Survey (MICS6) data show that in Sierra Leone, about 18 percent of children are deprived in sanitation.
Disparities exist among districts with Bonthe being, by far, the district in which children have less access to improved sanitation facility. Western Urban is the district where almost all children have access to improved sanitation facilities (98 percent). Kono (95 percent in the Eastern Region, as well as Bombali (94 percent) and Koinadugu (93 percent) in the Northern Region, are the other districts where most children have access to improved sanitation facilities with less than 10 percent sanitation deprivation rates.
The percentage of children deprived in the health dimension is higher than 30 percent in many districts. According to the report, his highlights the need for systemic health reforms, including supply and demand side policies to improve access to quality health services in the country.
Districts such as Moyamba (50percent), Kono (47 percent) and Bombali (44 percent) record high proportion of children who do not have adequate access to health services when sick.
Only Kambia and Pujehun have a rate below 20 percent for children deprived in the health dimension. The report notes that the Western Urban area, which has the lowest child poverty rate, records a very high health deprivation rate, with about 35 percent of children who did not go to an appropriate health facility when suffering from fever or diarrhoea.
The report revealed that poor shelter conditions are considered very critical for children’s well- being. In Sierra Leone, about half the children are living in households, with more than four persons per sleeping room or with poor floor or wall materials.
At district level, only Bo and the Western Region (both rural and Urban), record lower shelter deprivation rates than the national average. 44 percent of children in Bo District live in poor shelters while a much smaller proportion of 16 percent in Western Rural and 10 percent in Western Urban are shelter – deprived.
The Child Poverty Report 2018 report on education show at national level, a relatively low percentage of children who are more than 6 years old have never attended school.
However, education deprivation rates range from 5 percent in Western Urban to 38 percent in Bonthe.
The MICS6 data show that depending on the district where children live they do not have the same chance to go to school.
Education has been identified as the main factor that can break the intergenerational cycle of poverty. Monetary poverty and education are inextricably linked, for instance children who do not go to school tend to be poor when they become adults; more likely to have children who will grow up with several deprivations and remain poor, thus perpetuating the intergenerational cycle of poverty.
In 2017, three groups of districts could be identified when analyzing education deprivations. The first group , for which more than a quarter of children are deprived in education, is composed of Bonthe (38 percent) (Moyamba 29 percent) (Koinadugu 29 percent) and Pujehun 26 percent). The report states that these are the four priority districts in which consistent investments should be made to improve children access to quality education.
The second group composed of districts that have more than 10 percent of children deprived of education. This group represents more than half of the districts.
