Civil war flared up in Congo in 1997 and again in 1998-1999. Some of the militias that took part in the civil war remained active through 2002. The "Ninja" militia continued to ambush trains and launch raids into Brazzaville's suburbs in 2002, but agreed to a peace deal in 2003.

Congo's disease burden is high, with an HIV prevalence rate of 7.2 percent. In several urban areas the HIV-positive rate is much higher; Congo's National Program for the Campaign Against HIV/AIDS estimates that the HI-positve rate in Pointe Noire, Congo's port city on the Atlantic, is 20 percent.

Malaria is endemic throughout the country. The malaria death rate among children ages 0-4 was 395 per 100,000 in 2000. The tuberculosis death rate for the country is 48 per 100,000, and 61 percent of TB cases are detected and treated under the DOTS program. Congo has also had several Ebola hemorrhagic fever outbreaks in recent years.

Sources: BBC News country profile, CIA World Factbook, United Nations Statistics Division, Medecines Sans Frontieres, United Nations Relief Web

Source: UNAIDS

Demographic data contained in this section was obtained from the following sources: The Population Reference Bureau’s 2009 World Population Data Sheet was used for total population, life expectancy at birth, infant mortality, fertility, birth rate, death rate, % of married women 15-49 using modern methods of contraception, % of population 15-49 with HIV/AIDS in 2007/2008, and the GNI PPP per capita (2008). Literacy rates were found in the Population Reference Bureau’s publication 2005 Women of Our World. HIV prevalence data for 2001 and 2003 was obtained from the UNAIDS Barcelona 2002 report; HIV prevalence and orphan data for 2005 was obtained from the UNAIDS Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic 2006. Data on the % women who have discussed AIDS prevention with their husband or partner can be found in ORC Macro and USAID’s Women’s Lives and Experiences: Changes in the Past Ten Years (Research Findings from the Demographic and Health Surveys). Childhood malaria mortality data was accessed in 2003 from the United Nations Statistics Divisions’ Millennium Indicators. Tuberculosis data was obtained from the United Nations Statistics Division’s Millennium Indicators: MDGInfo 2006. In some cases information was unavailable.

Laboratoire National de Sante Publique

• "Molecular epidemiology of endothelin-1 and pathogenesis of severe malaria", in collaboration with MIM/TDR
• Evaluations of the sensitivity of anti-HIV antibody detection, in collaboration with Gaifar GmbH in Germany (Principal Investigator: H. Parra)