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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.
Haiti is a prime example of how human needs in one area of the world are interdependent with social conditions elsewhere in the world. Haiti, for most of its history has been overwhelmed with economic mismanage and political violence. While in Haiti Dr. Farmer discovers that his patients live in poverty, filth, pain and famine. Many of the Haitian residents will die young due to diseases or violence, especially when their own doctors are inexperienced and practice medicine in less than savory clinics. How do you deliver quality healthcare to a destitute area of the world when its residence, although may be cured of their disease, will return to no clean running water, an extreme lack of quality food and basic necessitates that majority of us take for granted, no safe shelters from disease carrying insects, and no means to protect themselves from airborne and sexually transmitted diseases. Returning to the same conditions that caused the diseases in the first place, without a change in the environment, can be viewed as a never ending battle.
All four countries are undergoing an epidemiologic transition as treatment and control of infectious diseases continues to improve. However, the major issues that affect each country and how the country has responded to their problems are vastly different. It is funny, but in the midst of writing this reflection, I somehow found myself in a conversation with someone who was horrified by the quality of healthcare in “third world” countries. This assumption that poor countries have horrendous quality of healthcare is not uncommon. Fortunately, these assumptions are wrong. Though developing countries are facing the unique problem of operating a healthcare system in an environment with inadequate resources and public health infrastructures, they have managed to develop incredible solutions. In Latin America and the Caribbean, a combination international and national interventions has been so successful that these countries have the highest percentage of ART coverage in any low-to-middle-income countries (Garcia et al., 2014). Cuba’s WHO health ranking is 39, approximately the same as the U.S. and achieved at a fraction of the price. As countries shift into the third epidemiologic transition, many of the basic systems for obtaining medications and seeing health care professionals are already in place. These four have taken the first important step and declared that healthcare is a right for all, something that even the U.S. has failed to do. Though they must continue building upon their current infrastructure, they have the advantage of hindsight and seeing what has worked in other countries. As we have seen during our study of the U.S. and other OECD countries, there is no one perfect health system. However, I am confident that the health systems that emerge from these developing countries will be one that works for the
According to World Health Organization, the statics show that: - The world needs 17 million more health workers, especially in Africa and South East Asia. - African Region bore the highest burden with almost two thirds of the global maternal deaths in 2015 - In Sub-Saharn Africa, 1 child in 12 dies before his or her 5th birthday - Teenage girls, sex workers and intravenous drug users are mong those left behind by the global HIV response - TB occurs with 9.6 million new cases in 2014 - In 2014, at least 1.7 billion people needed interventions against neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) (“Global Health Observatory data”, n.d.) B. A quote of Miss Emmeline Stuart, published in the article in
According to the World Health Organization, the reason why there are many Ebola outbreaks in West Africa is because they have “very weak health systems, lacking human and infrastructural resources, having only recently emerged from long periods of conflict and instability.” A hum...
Access to health care in Ethiopia has left many people without proper health care and eventual death. Millions of people living in Ethiopia die because of the lack of access to the health care system; improving the access to the healthcare system in Ethiopia can prevent many of the deaths that occur, but doing so will pose a grueling and challenging task. According to Chaya (2012), poor health coverage is of particular concern in rural Ethiopia, where access to any type of modern health institution is limited at best (p. 1). If citizen of Ethiopia had more accessibility of the healthcare system more individuals could be taught how to practice safe health practices. In Ethiopia where HIV, and maternal and infant mortality rates are sky high, more education on the importance of using the healthcare system and makin...
With advanced technology, nursing is more connected and interdependent. The nursing professional unit is able to lobby to both local and international community organizations on behalf of the African community from anywhere in the world. Funding and education are necessary for this well needed community in order to assist in a caring and positive manner to combat their diagnosis of diabetes or related symptoms. With the increase in world-wide travel, infectious diseases now spread across the world at an alarming rate. Madeline Leininger, a well-known theorist in nursing, stated that “globalization implies an ethical and moral obligation for professional nurses to enter and function in a worldwide community” (Nursing Theories, 2011b).
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.
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).
The country faces various health challenges including a high burden of communicable diseases (such as HIV/AIDS that is responsible for 29.3% of all deaths, malaria and Tuberculosis) and non-communicable diseases (Government of Kenya, 2011). Health services are provided by government, missionaries, ...
There is no doubt that European colonialism has left a grave impact on Africa. Many of Africa’s current and recent issues can trace their roots back to the poor decisions made during the European colonial era. Some good has resulted however, like modern medicine, education, and infrastructure. Africa’s history and culture have also been transformed. It will take many years for the scars left by colonization to fade, but some things may never truly disappear. The fate of the continent may be unclear, but its past provides us with information on why the present is the way it is.
The majority of the continent of Africa has not been as economically progressive as the other continents in today’s world. However, over the past few years, it has been rapidly growing. Although there have been multiple countries in Africa that have reflected a strong growing economy, such as South Africa and Botswana, there are many other countries that are still corrupt and are still struggling to grow as a nation. There are many challenges that are facing Africa currently. Some of these major challenges being, corrupt governments, vicious cycles of aid, and poverty traps. However, among these challenges, there still lies to be great opportunities for Africa within their technology and business sectors.
...at development. Roads are not well developed in some parts of Africa which increase the transportation cost. Public investors are also not taking interest due to high cost of paved roads in Africa. The accident rate is also increasing as driving license is not compulsory for motorcycles. Health care facilities are also very less in Africa, which leads to deaths due to accidents and diseases. Less health workers, poverty, transportation problems all lead to less health care facilities which result in increase of death rates in Africa.
Flint, Karen E. Healing Traditions: African Medicine, Cultural Exchange, and Competition in South Africa, 1820-1948.
... diseases such as AIDS are also becoming a problem in places like Africa. Knowledge of how to prevent these diseases is not widely known, so an increasing number of people are infected. More attention needs to be placed on adequate health care and technology in these countries. While these third world societies may not have the resources with which to implement these changes, more advanced societies certainly do.