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The Central African Republic is Africa's forgotten country. A landlocked former French colony of just under four million people, the country is struggling to avoid economic and social chaos. The Central African Republic is one of the least developed countries: few people there live beyond 40, 13 percent of children die in infancy and only a third of the population has access to safe drinking water. There is just one hospital bed for every one thousand people and one nurse to every 8,000 people.
Many of the CAR's problems could be solved by money. But appeals for aid have fallen largely on deaf ears. Only a handful of aid agencies continue to work there, and the amount of aid it gets is pitiful compared to other sub-Saharan countries. In 2003, it received just $12.9 USD per person. Life interviewed the President, Francois Bozize, who confirms that health is the country's top priority. Bozize has pledged to restore the country's national unity and security, but foreign governments have been slow to respond to his repeated requests for assistance and support.
'The visual impact of the gripping documentaries in the Life 5 series make them extremely powerful teaching tools for university, and indeed, other classrooms. In succinct episodes they raise and contextualise some of the most critical issues in the world today. These episodes are produced in an extremely objective manner and allow an audience easily to come to grips with an array of complex problems. They ought to be an indispensable part of the teaching curriculum.' Dr. Jeremy Sarkin, Visiting Professor of International Human Rights, Tufts University
'The importance of these films is that they are intended to raise awareness about global issues in young people, and can be used by anyone for this purpose. The quality of the films is excellent. They are documentaries about the U.N. Millennium Development Goals and include brief interviews with people who are actually involved in MDG programs, from various institutions and from the grassroots to executive level...The objective evidence about the current global crisis of insecurity, poverty, gender inequalities, environmental degradation, and lack of international cooperation is presented in a way that is both realistic and non-inflammatory.
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Citation
Main credits
Feldon, Amanda (film director)
Langford, Jan (editor of moving image work)
Kelly, Brenda (film producer)
Bower, Dick (film producer)
Dunbar, Sally (narrator)
Other credits
Editor, Jan Langford; executive producer, Brenda Kelly; series producer, Dick Bower.
African Studies; Anthropology; Developing World; Geography; Globalization; Health; Human Rights; Humanities; International Studies; Millennium Development Goals; Poverty; Social Justice; Sociology; United Nations
Keywords
Central African Republic, french colony, safe drinking water, CAR, sub-saharan countries, Francois Bozize, infant mortality, aid agencies, health; "The Silent Crisis"; Bullfrog Films
Distributor: Bullfrog Films
Length: 26 minutes
Date: 2006
Genre: Expository
Language: English
Grade: 7-12, College, Adult
Color/BW:
Closed Captioning: Available
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