Civil War: Born In Monrovia, Liberia

We live in a country where all children go to school to gain an education and 25% of them will go onto receive some type of college degree. Compare this to low-income countries, in which children are 16 times as likely to die prior to their fifth birthday (Nickitas, Middaugh & Aries, 2016). Beyond the lens of our smartphones, Facebook friends and Nike sneakers is a world full of desperate people wishing to have enough food to eat for today. Many parts of the world lack sanitation, safe housing, sparse medical care and no medication. The global health issue are everyone’s problems not only for the sake of altruism but, with the increase in global travel for routine business and pleasure, dangerous pathogen are no longer confine by boarders. The Ebola outbreak four years ago, proved the necessity of a global solution to global health issues. The collaborative practice of several world health agencies and economically developed countries along with the use of volunteers, statistical updates, the latest literature and practices kept this outbreak mostly contained to its region of origin and the death toll to approximately 11,000 people (mainly in West Africa) (WHO,

Being born to Nigerian parents who came to the USA about 20 years ago, the motto that was always preached was integrity. "No matter what you do pursue it to excellency," my father said. Instilled from an early age, I used this mentality to excel in high school, earn a full-tuition scholarship to The Ohio State University and now enter into to Johns Hopkins University to pursue nursing and subsequently become a nurse practitioner, I will use it to provide quality care. I also realize the opportunity to that has been granted to me. I was not born into an environment filled with war, poverty, and/or disease or an environment with little opportunity. That is why I am so passionate about the Nurse Corps mission in serving underserved communities. After experiencing the conditions back home on trips to Nigeria contrasting with my solid upbringing in America, I feel a moral responsibility to give back to those who are less fortunate than me. Those in underserved communities often face the greatest barriers to quality healthcare including not knowing where to go for health care and in communities with undocumented individuals the fear of deportation prevents people from getting care. Add these factors with the burden caused by other environmental stressors the likelihood of poor health outcomes in these communities increases. After seeing the suffering and hearing stories of family friends from

I’ve lived in places where healthcare was inaccessible, where doctors were not fully equipped with the tools necessary to preform regular checkups, and where people died chilling deaths from misdiagnoses or lack there of. I was born in Khartoum, Northern Sudan as my parents were in transit to come to the land of the free from Eritrea. In the midst of its 30-year war with Ethiopia, both of my parents fled the compromised country at the age of 18 and 20. The war had made it difficult for children to attend school, therefore my parents fled with what would be considered a middle school education. After two years and through much treachery, we successfully made it to America.

If a health clinic providing basic services to the world’s most vulnerable people is withheld the large amount of foreign assistance that currently comes from the United States government, all diseases will flourish, including epidemics such as Zika and Ebola (Barry-Jester, 2016). We contribute to more unstable political environments (Crimm, 2007, p.615) and more refugees that we increasingly refuse to help when we take away aid that would countries meet the needs of their citizens.

“Liberian Civil war fought in 1989-1996, is among the most deadly and destructive war in the history that lasted for more than 7 years and killed almost 3 hundred thousand people. This war was the worst ever in the history of Africa because it caused the infrastructural and property damage in the country. The war also displaced more than 1 million people in refugee camps in neighboring countries. This war led to a complete breakdown of law and order in the country. There was not any direct cause that led to this war but several reasons contributed in the creation of this destructive event. Hunger for power, greed and opportunities to control and to get more out of Liberia’s natural resources were the main reasons behind this conflict. As D. Elwood Dunn quoted “We begin with the assumption that the conflict arose from the tugs and pulls of different identities the differential distribution of

In late 2013, Ebola virus disease (EVD), a deadly and lethal disease, remerged in West Africa spreading to various countries in the region. In humans, the disease is spread through contact with infected bodily fluids leading to haemorrhagic fever (World Health Organization [WHO], 2015). Originating in 1976 in equatorial Africa, past outbreaks with a few hundred cases had been contained within rural, forested areas in Uganda and Congo (Piot, 2012). In 2014, a total of 20, 206 cases and 7,905 deaths were reported to have occurred in up to eight countries worldwide. Of all cases and deaths resulting from the disease, 99.8% occurred in three neighbouring West African countries - Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea (WHO, 2014). With a case fatality rate from about 50% to 90%, and the absence of preventative or curative therapies, the Ebola epidemic has led to overall global alarm and further elucidated existing global health disparities that perpetuated the epidemic with these West African countries.

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 the United States and Nigeria after being armed with the training from the University of Michigan School of Information that will allow me make

What was usually a disease contained in regions of sub-Saharan Africa became a global worry. Although the outbreak started in Guinea, it quickly spread to two neighboring countries. From these three countries, cases were then transmitted to the United States, Spain, and the United Kingdom. No vaccine was available to stop the spread of Ebola. This deadly disease went from being a problem in only a small region of the world to being seen in three noncontiguous countries, which could have sowed the seeds of a pandemic had the cases not been contained. As a global community, we gain from our interactions with all citizens, but we must also be aware that we can also suffer from diseases that we think of as only affecting the “others.” If we do not help those “others,” we may become part of

My nursing practice has been affected by the medical mission trips that I have taken to Haiti. This course has further expanded my knowledge of global nursing and helped me to understand and envision new ways to improve health outcomes. I have been face to face with impoverished people who lacked access to clean drinking water, proper sanitation, nourishment and healthcare services. The life expectancy at birth in Haiti for women is 64 and in men is 61 (WHO, 2015). Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and is still recovering from the catastrophic earth quake that occurred in 2010. As result of the earth quake, 220,000 were killed, more than 300,000 were injured and 1.5 million people lost their homes (Breakey, Corless, Meedzan, & Nicholas, 2015). The country experienced a large cholera outbreak following the earth quake because of their poor sanitation practices. The country continues to face many health challenges, so organizations from around the world are poised to help address the health disparities experienced by the Haitian people and others in developing nations around the world. Nurses are an important member of this team as lobby for change, provide much needed financial resources, give of their time and work toward making this world a better place for everyone to live.

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

Do you think you’re life is hard? How would it be if civil wars, corrupt government officials, gunfire in the streets, extreme poverty, severe illness and no indoor plumbing were added? That is what most Liberians had to deal with on a daily basis, due to the problems forced upon them that they had to attempt to solve as individuals not as a country. But these problems were caused by an already weakening system that was waiting to be toppled, taken advantage of and destroyed. Many Liberians would die and many lives would be shaken before it would rise again, yet when its change comes it will be stronger than ever. But before any of this happened Liberia would first have to be established as a country.

Liberia was a country founded in 1822 by Americans who wanted to find a place for freed slaves to settle. Then on July 26, 1847, a new day began in the history of Liberia, it was declared as a freed and independent nation. Their constitution was formed as a replicate of the United States government. Liberia had gone through one-hundred and thirty-three years of one party rule, and an additional twenty-five years of military and dictatorial rule. A civil war broke out for 14 years when the end of the dictatorship was targeted with violence. This paper focuses on the causes of the civil war. The causes of the civil war in Liberia can probably be narrowed down to the country’s unresolved ethnic and political viewpoints. We will also highlight

According to James Harding Giahyue, “Nearly 10,000 people have died in Liberia...More than 4,000 of those deaths were in Liberia.” From now on, this statement is history and the USA has helped to open its doors to something positive: the decline in Ebola cases. To be specific, the number of Ebola cases has been waning from the assistance of the USA. Deep inside, this action expresses bravery, perseverance, alliance, and reports to the readers the progress in wiping out this tragic virus. As Albert Schweitzer stated, “The purpose of human life is to serve, and to show compassion and the will to help others.”

One of the most direction giving experiences this past semester was meeting Deogratias Niyizonkiza. He is known for his healthcare facility Village Health Works, located in his home country of Burundi. A non-profit organization, the facility treats all who come. As I spoke to him, his passion for helping and healing those without resources, resounded in me. He saw a need in his home country, and left an easier life in America to fix it. Speaking to him, cemented my goal and desire to enter medical school and work toward fixing health care disparities. In Nigeria, the health-care system is very poor. As a Nigerian, this issue troubles me. My goal one day would be to reduce the extreme health-care disparity found in my home country. Wealthy Nigerians fly to Western countries to be treated, while those who cannot afford to suffer from even simple illnesses. My mother 's childhood friend passed away just a month ago from an upper respiratory infection. Here in America, an upper respiratory infection will rarely cause death in a young person if properly treated. A person passing away from inadequate health resources is so commonplace in Nigeria, that when it occurs, it does not even cause outrage.

Although volunteers for Medecins Sans Frontiers are commonly stationed in various countries with a dire healthcare worker shortage, regions with refugee camps and internally displaced persons are also a focus for this organization. Refugees and internally displaced persons often come from war torn regions and live in close confines with poor sanitation and limited resources. These living situations become a breeding ground for diseases and other health issues like malnutrition, yet the individuals lack access to any sort of healthcare. The organization also responds quickly when regions suddenly experience an increased need for healthcare, for example in times of an epidemic or a natural disaster. Medecins Sans Frontiers’ involvement across its varying regions and their attempt to address a broad spectrum of healthcare truly show how altruistic the organization is to individuals regardless of race, gender, or religion.