Childhood Mortality Rates in Sub-Saharan Africa Essay

In the Central African Republic, the infant mortality rate is 107 per 1,000(6). That means that an infant born in Norway has a 10 per cent higher chance of survival than an infant born in the Central African Republic. Even in the first few days after birth, inequalities exist between the lives of infants born in developed countries and the lives of infants born in underdeveloped countries. Furthermore, the life expectancy at birth of a child born in Norway is 81.1 (5) years, whereas in the Central African Republic, the life expectancy at birth is 48.4 years (5). Again, inequalities exist between the infants born in developed countries and the infants born in developed countries. Although the Central African Republic has a high rate of infant mortality as well as a high death rate - 17.6 per 1,000 in the years 2005-2010(7), it also has a very high birth rate - 35.6 per 1,000 in the years 2005-2010 (8). This has lead to a very high population, which puts a huge strain on the resources of the country. Norway on the other hand, has a much steadier population, with a low birth rate - 12.6 per 1,000 in the years 2005-2010 (8) - but also a low death rate - 8.8 per 1,000 in the years 2005-2010 (7). The population is controlled and their are enough resources to serve the entire population. It is for this reason that Norwegians generally receive an average of 12.6 years of schooling (5). Contrast this with the Central African Republic, where citizens there

The health of many women in Algeria which is part of Sub-Saharan Africa in 1990 were impacted by the poor health care system because they lived in poverty. Poverty caused these women to lack essential needs to live a quality life. They lacked or could not afford resources such as supplies, health care professionals, and facilities for healthcare, clean water, and waste disposal. This ultimately affected the health of women and their children. For instance, lack of clean water and waste disposal facilities can cause health abnormalities such as cholera or typhoid fever which can cause devastating deaths. This is a healthcare problem because of the lack of funding. The lack of funding prevents antibiotics from being used to prevent death, and prevents African’s from being vaccinated against typhoid fever. Another example of how poverty affects woman’s health is unintended pregnancy, which is because they are more likely to engage in risky sexual behavior. It's part of the health crisis because it includes a poor health system, and a lack of education about proper nutrition and behaviors during pregnancy. Complications in these pregnancies due to poor nutrition and not visiting the doctor regularly includes increased infant mortality. Infant mortality in the slums of Nairobe is 91.3% while it is 75.9% in urban areas where there is a better developed healthcare system. The inferiority of poor Africans in

Social Determinants of Health Q1. The mortality rate for children under 5 years in Africa among twelve countries indicate that the “mortality went high in 1990 by 52% in Botswana and Zimba 43%, according to Michael Marmot, and 75% of child mortality in Iraq. The classification of a household for child mortality is varies among countries. The child mortality is the highest among countries within the poorest household, and also there is the higher level of socioeconomic of the household lower mortality rate. In Africa” (Marmot 2005)

The plotted data shows that there is a negative correlation between crude death rate and income per capita across countries but the slope becomes less steep throughout the time period. In Sub-Saharan Africa, there is a high crude death rate with lower income, compared to other regions while in Middle East and North Africa, there is a lower crude death rate with higher income. There are some factors that might influence the death rate such as sanitation facilities and health care system. Systems in high-income countries are much better than those in low-income countries. Within that time frame, there were some unusual patterns throughout the time period. From 1975 to 1980, there was a drastic increase in the death rate in Timor-Leste and Cambodia.

mothers during their pregnancy period as well as during and after birth which ultimately will greatly contribute towards the survival of the child. Poor families are often unable to obtain even the most basic health care for their children. Poor or delayed care-seeking contributes to up to 70% of all under-five child deaths. Of the 12 countries where more than 20% of children die before their fifth birthday, nine have suffered a major armed conflict in recently. Countries with weak and fragile health systems have not been able to provide effective child survival strategies that are crucial to reduce under-five child deaths, and especially neonatal deaths. Basic health services have been lacking as well as nutrition, water supplies and sanitation

There are several risk factors that impact children’s health in Ethiopia. For example, vitamin A deficiency stunts children’s growth. Mothers are unable to properly breastfeed so the child doesn’t fully develop as they should. Immune systems weaken in children as well, causing them to die from diseases that are easily treatable. Since the HIV/aids rate is so high in women, children also are transmitted the disease and end up dying. Another factor is that children don’t receive proper care from their families or health services. It is also estimated that over 150,000 children live on the streets in Ethiopian cities (Humanium • We make children's rights happen, 2017). That results in improper hygiene and lack of sanitation. As mentioned already,

According to the New York City Department of Health, between the years of 1965 and 1969 there were 123 deaths attributed to children under the age of fifteen, falling out of windows and/or off balconies. Of the areas studied, the South Bronx had the highest reported number of cases involving morbidity and/or mortality. This issue sparked New York to enact legislation which made it mandatory for all multiple dwellings, where children who are under the age of eleven reside, to be equipped with window guards. An article titled Children can’t Fly: A program to Prevent Childhood Morbidity and Mortality from Window Falls written by C. Spiegel and F. Lindaman written for the American

Since decades child health have persisted in debilitating conditions throughout the world particularly in developing countries where child mortality rates remain elevated. Eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were proposed by United Nations in 2000 for its member states to be achieved by 2015. These MDGs provided guidance and direction to the national and global health priorities. Out of these eight MDGs, goal 4 was related to children mortality and target was set to reduce by two third, the under-five mortality rate in 2015 (WHO, 2014). The progress of MDG 4 was significant globally and the number of deaths in under 5 years of children dropped down to 6.6 million in 2012 compared to 12.6 million in 1990 (WHO, 2014). Whilst its burden

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has one of the highest child mortality rates in the world. Even though the number of children suffering from global acute malnutrition has decreased from 16% in 2001 to 11% in 2010, the rates remain exceptionally high. In 2012, 63.6% of the population live in extreme poverty, living on less than a dollar each day. Infant mortality in the DRC is 73.15/1,000. Among these deaths, half of them are as a result of malnutrition.

According to the World Health Organization (2013), nearly 7 million children under the age of five died in 2012. Most of these deaths are “due to preventable conditions: malnutrition, diarrhea, pneumonia, perinatal and neonatal complications, and communicable infectious diseases” (Garfunkel, 2011, p. 260). Currently, only 15% of countries with high child mortality are on pace to meet the Millennium Development Goal target (Chan, 2011). Some of the major barriers in

Life expectancy at birth, according to the World Bank is “the average number of years a newborn infant would be expected to live if health and living conditions at the time of its birth remained the same throughout its life. It reflects the health of a country's people and the quality of care they receive when they are sick” (World Bank). There are many factors that can affect life expectancy, geographic area, race, gender, and family medical history are just a few of them. Therefore, low levels of life expectancy within a country can be a result of any combination of these factors. Which is definitely the case in Malawi a landlocked country in sub-Saharan Africa. Malawi, according to data provided by the World Bank in 2013 has a life expectancy rate of 55.2 years. Which is the second lowest life expectancy in the immediate surrounding area. There are many things that

Child mortality is a huge issue in many parts of the world, but we mainly see higher rates of child mortality in impoverished countries. One country in Africa that has high child mortality rates is Somalia. Although Somalia’s child mortality rates are decreasing throughout the years, Somalia still has extremely high rates of child mortality.

Some of the world’s poorest countries, with some of the highest child labor and illiteracy rates lie in Sub Saharan Africa. People generally associate the region only with poor economic conditions and all of the social disorder that goes along with 3rd World Status. While some of this reputation is deserved, many people are also failing to see the vast potential for this part of the world. There are several factors that African governments should look into if they want to effectively and efficiently revamp this areas quality of life. One way to do so is by improving the more crucial aspects to healthy functioning region, for example, allowing children to possess their natural rights to a decent education. This could influence an increase

In the healthcare system, the major problem is preventable communicable diseases and different nutritional disorders. A statistic from 2010 states, “More than 90% of child deaths are due to pneumonia, diarrhea, malaria, neonatal problems, malnutrition, and HIV/AIDS, and often a combination of these conditions” (Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, 2010, pg. 3). These diseases are widely preventable, however, when the healthcare system is lacking, the people of Ethiopia are negatively impacted. In Ethiopia, the life expectancy for females is 62 years of age, and for males it is 65 years of age. The probability of a person dying under the age of five years old is 68 out of 1000. The probability of dying between 15 and 60 years of age is variant depending on gender. Out of a 1000 people, 250 females and 212 males, will die between 15 and 60 years of age. Healthcare status in this

Ghana is one of the developing countries in the world. Even though now I am living in a developed country, I was also born and raised in a developing country; therefore, I wanted to explore what are the problems on the other part of the world especially African countries. Ghana is said be the country that is doing much better in increasing the health status of people as well as decreasing the mortality rates. I was interested on learning about what factors have affected the health status of this country.