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different practices for health care in africa
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The residents of Africa are suffering from preventable, treatable, and fatal diseases everyday at a higher rate compared to developed countries. The healthcare crisis in Africa is the primary cause of all these deaths, and includes inefficient healthcare systems. Consequently, African's inefficient healthcare systems results in poor delivery of care and a shortage of health professionals. The healthcare crisis in Africa is a current issue impacting the lives of many African's who don't have the same access to resources as developed countries such as the United States. These resources can save the lives of many African's dying of preventable and curable disease, and understanding why the African continent has little access to them should be interesting. In the following paragraphs the information will answer who is affected by Africa's healthcare crisis, what government programs or agencies impacted Africa's healthcare system, why there is a shortage of nurses, and how this issue has been addressed.
The healthcare crisis in Africa is a prominent issue that affects all of Africa's residents in some way. The crisis affects African's because preventable diseases and poor living sanitation causes them to have low life expectancy. The high rate of preventable diseases being transmitted throughout the population includes tuberculosis, STI's, HIV/AIDS, and malaria. The issue of healthcare in Africa affects all of the poor people who have limited access to treatment, supplies, healthcare professionals, health facilities, or education. The healthcare system in Africa is inefficient in poor areas and an example includes living in unsanitary, poverty stricken areas that results in malnutrition, infections or viruses, death, and an ...
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...o Africa, infant mortality was 2.7% in the white population and 20% in the black, also, life expectancy of white Africans was 70 while it was 55 for black (Kons, 2008). In 1994, the government changed from apartheid to democracy, the inequalities of blacks and whites remained the same, and the healthcare improved some. The shortage of health care professionals is shown in this paragraph and is a problem impacting the poor people of Africa in negative ways..
Medicine people in Africa were highly regarded for their healing abilities (Khapoya, 37). With Africa's shortage of healthcare professionals in public health systems, the ability to heal the sick and injured is not possible. There needs to be a variety of health workers specialized in different aspects of healthcare to promote wellness, treat disease and injury, and prevent disease and injury from occurring.
Although the !Kung San of southern Africa differ greatly from the people in the west African nation of Mali, both areas share similar problems. Both suffer from diseases, illnesses, malnutrition, and having to adapt to the ever changing and advancing cultures around them. What I found to be the most significant problem that is shared between both areas is that the people suffered from a lack of education. In the book Dancing Skeletons: Life and Death in West Africa by Katherine A. Dettwyler, there is a lack of education in proper nutritional practices, taking care of children and newborns, and basic medical knowledge and practices. The Dobe Ju/’hoansi have recently started putting in schools to help children receive an education to help them have better success with the surrounding peoples and culture, but there is a lack of attendance in these schools. There are also many education issues in proper sexual practices that would help stop the spread of HIV and AIDS, in a place in the world were theses illnesses are at surprisingly high levels.
Building a system to serve an underserved population may be difficult but it is not impossible. There are two major problems. There are cultural problems, historically based, related to the lack of trust in the dominate culture. And there are problems related to the stereotypical lenses the dominant culture chooses to wear. The dominate culture, who is in control of health services, and are fully aware of the health disparities but observe no profit, nor do they have the resources, in making a certain population of people are healthier. By identifying the concerned parties, the health disparities, and the problems that are ahead it is noted that positive outcomes will result
There are major diseases that affect men and women all over the world today. The country, that I will be talking about is affected daily by many different deadly diseases such as, lower respiratory infections, HIV/AIDS, measles, whooping cough, malaria, pneumonia and many more. The residents of Africa are suffering from preventable, treatable, and fatal diseases everyday at a higher rate compared to other developed countries. The World Organization (WHO) projects that over the next ten years the continent will experience the largest increase in death rates from cardiovascular disease, cancer, respiratory disease, and diabetes.
During my numerous trips to Nigeria to visit my extended family, I saw firsthand how international health disparities can affect communities. It is often challenging to make the highest standard of care available to all groups and individuals here, and I became increasingly motivated to devote myself to the mission of reducing health disparities in African countries. People in my family, regardless of societal class, suffered from various illnesses including HIV/AIDS, malaria, and polio because of poor access to quality healthcare services. My goal is to return to underserved communities in both the United States and Nigeria after being armed with the training from the University of Michigan School of Information and the School of Public Health
James Wolfensohn had admitted as the new head of the World Bank that they had made a big mistake in Africa and their policies had created even a bigger gap between the rich and the poor as well as a serious crisis where their total debt almost equaled the annual gross national product of the entire continent. As a result, 25 percent of their children were dying before the age of 5 due to the lack of health aid (Wild & Wild, 2016. pp. 273).
I Chinweude Okani identify myself as a full-blooded Nigerian. Although I was born in the US my parents were both born and raised in the country of Nigeria. This diversity in my culture has both the benefits and lack of them. I think of myself as very privileged to live here in the US. This is especially true because of the divergence in the health care system in both countries.
Wasiya, Mutawakilu. Voices of the World, "Africa's Health Problems." Last modified August 10, 2013. Accessed January 20, 2014. http://www.voices-of-the-world.org/community/who-is-to-blame/.
Although Apartheid was abolished and a constitutional democracy was established, it’s tremendous impact on the people of South Africa remained, mostly noticeable in their health challenges. Racial segregation was replaced by economic standing, which had the same impact in health care: the wealthy, who were mostly white, were able to obtain treatment, while the impoverished, the majority of which were blacks, continued to fall victim to diseases. While Post-Apartheid initiated “free primary health care for all” (Coovadia 820), three-fourths of doctors worked in private sectors, where they were paid more by the wealthy. Although these doctors became more wealthy, the impoverished continued to die due to the decrease in the doctor to patient ratio in urban services, which lead to the swift spread of diseases, such as HIV.
Nearly 50,000 people, including 30,000 children, die each day due to poverty-related problems and preventable disease in underdeveloped Countries. That doesn’t include the other millions of people who are infected with AIDS and other incurable diseases. Especially those living in Sub-Saharan Africa (70%), or “the Third-World,” and while we fight to finish our homework, children in Africa fight to survive without food, or clean water. During the next few paragraphs I will give proof that poverty and disease are the two greatest challenges facing under developed countries.
Most people don’t have access to a quality health care. There is no enough hospitals or clinics built in the country. Lack of infrastructure and good road have been a big contributor for people to die in the rural cities. For the majority of the people, the nearest health facilities are two to three days by foot. Even at the public clinics the waiting time is long and many people go to health center when their condition is serious and the clinics are overcrowded with a lot of the people trying to get medical care, but short of equipment, essential drugs and trained medical staffs, always lead to a poor health outcome. The doctors in Ethiopia usually don’t have enough training and qualification to treat people. This is related to educational quality in Ethiopia and the doctors who have many years of experience or who are newly graduate mostly leave the country in better condition abroad. In addition, there is no health benefit or health insurance system in the country and a lot of people have to pay out of pocket. In the urban cities like Addis Ababa, where there is private clinics, they have to pay a lot of money to get quality care. Because most of people are poor or low income; they are usually unable to afford to pay to get quality care and they turn to using traditional healing method and medicine. This
Before South Africa’s first democratic elections, hostipatals were assigned to particular racial groups and most were concentrated in white areas. It had 14 different health departments and the health system was fragmented. During 1994 the dismantling of the old health care system and the transformation of the inclusive health care was introduced. However high level of poverty amongst Africans and unemployment mean health care remains largely the burden of the South African government.
With about the size of the United Kingdom, France and Germany combined, South Africa holds an estimated population of thirty nine million people, where thirty two million are Africans, four millions are Whites, and another three million of mixed race. The literacy level is eighty two percent; however, only fifty four percent of the population is urba...
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), A Hospitals are health care institutions that have an organized medical and other professional staff, and inpatient facilities, and deliver services 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. They offer a varying range of acute, convalescent and terminal care using a diagnostic curative service. From this definition, a hospital can be said to be one of the most important pillars of the Ghanaian society. There are adequate numbers of hospitals in Ghana, with proper equipment and facilities in each, providing the care and concern the government has for its citizens. Today, hospitals are playing an increasingly important role in people’s lives; with great pollution levels and changing lifestyles, more
Egbunam E. (1999) Journal of Black Studies, Vol. 29, No. 5, Special Issue: Political Strategies of Democracy and Health Issues and Concerns in Global Africa pp. 619-645
... the diseases. South Africa has a high infant mortality infant and low life expectancy leading to the conclusion that they need medical aid.