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 …show more content…
The main factors behind the shortage were poor distribution, high food prices, and low purchasing power, this put white corn which is a staple of the Malawian diet out of reach for the lower class citizens (Phillips). During the entirety of the food shortage only 34% of the population received assistance either from relatives or food aids (Bryceson, Fonesca). This was a difficult time for the Malawian people as many of them were dealing with the AIDS epidemic in either themselves or a family member on top of dealing with severe starvation, and neither of the two help to promote growth in life expectancy. As a result of both the famine and AIDS outbreak, the life expectancy had dropped exponentially to 38.6 years the lowest the country had seen in the last 40 years (Matchaya). The 2002 famine was truly devastating and Malawi being the only one out of the six countries affected by food shortage to report hunger related deaths reflects that
People do not always die from starvation in a famine but they die from a weakened immune system. Researchers from the British Journal of Medicine find world food program who “argue that health issues cannot be separated from the food insecurity” which has been occurring since the 1990s (Zarocostas, 2010). For example, Barbara Demick outlines that chronic malnutrition causes an increase of susceptibility to diseases such as typhoid and tuberculosis. A notable statistic is the country’s “estimated tuberculosis incidence of 345/100,000 population is higher than in some countries with generalized HIV/AIDS epidemics” (Seung, 2013) . Also a result of malnutrition, the body is no longer able to metabolize antibiotics and malnutrition can cause strokes or heart attacks (Demick, 2009). The death rate then increases because these diseases are health issues which cannot be resolved with the lack of healthcare and
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
Many factors contribute to the food insecurity faced by many American’s today. Poverty seems to attribute to the hunger crisis more drastically than anything else. More specifically, unequal distribution of wealth is the principle cause of hunger. The world does in fact produce enough food to feed everyone, the issues is that income is not distributed is in such a way that everyone can afford or have access to food.
Swaziland lie on the fifth lowest place in the world on the index of life expectancy, according to the CIA World Fact Book, with expected life is on average 49,2 years. (3) The UN have in their MDG's informed that the goal is to reduce the number of child death before the age of 5 from 180/1000 children to 60/1000 children by 2015. In 2008, they where down to 129, meaning they are going in the right direction, but not fast enough. Swaziland is a part of the area which are referred to as Sub-Sahara Africa, having HIV/AIDS problems like no other area in the world.
More than 1 billion people in the world right now are suffering from hunger. Food security is “the access by all people at all times to the food needed for a healthy life,” as defined by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. There are four points to food security, which are “availability, access, utilization, and stability.” When one or even all these points are missing, it is described as food insecurity. The rise of food prices in 2008 shocked and affected millions of people, many of whom were very poor. Because of the rise of food prices, there were protests and hunger was put at the top of the list, although it did not stay there. Science has to understand how to deal with hunger as the problem grows. Using scientific research and changing policies can have a huge impact on the issue of hunger. Population is
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.
When looking at infant mortality rates in the lowest class evidence shows that double the amount of babies die in comparison to the highest class this can be linked to poverty the poorer you are the worse your chances are even at birth. These following factors increase the risk of infant death; the age of the mother aged less than 18 years is the highest and the lowest for mothers between 30 and 34. With the high teenage pregnancy epidemic and women from lower social class background the most at risk from losing their baby.
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,
Poverty causes diseases, and diseases result in poverty; a satanic circle where once someone got in, s/he would be captured as a prisoner. There is an Arabic expression that states, "if the cause is known, the surprise is blown." If we get to know the various causes of poverty, we can take a long stride towards reducing tropical diseases that are prevalent in many poor countries. Things would look clearer if causal mechanisms behind the persistent increase of poverty in those countries were known. The latest statistics of The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) shows that the undernourished in Africa has increased approximately by 10% within 2004 and 2012 ("The State of Food Insecurity in the World" 10). Meanwhile,
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)
In the year 2015, Niger and Congo have the lowest life expectancy compared to the other 3 countries. This is because Africa is mainly made up of third world countries; so they don't have good healthcare, nutrition and a healthy way of living. Also a big factor is education, people who are more educated, tend to have higher awareness regarding their personal & surrounding hygiene. Unfortunately, enrolment rate to even primary schools have dropped in many parts of Africa. Also as high as 45% of the people in Africa have no access to clean water. As there is no alternative source, many people collect drinking water from rivers, streams & canals polluted with human excreta & chemicals. From aids to syphilis and the new Ebola outbreak, there are many deadly diseases that plague the African people that also contribute in the low life expectancy.
The majority of population growth in the next century is expected to be concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa because many of those regions are in developmental stages where infant mortality is still high, as are birth rates, resulting in a high natural increase rate. Because China and India have already gone through much of the social developments that have educated their people and has created lower fertility rates, and has lowered their population projections. Both of these reasons have resulted in African countries having much smaller doubling times in their populations compared to those in Asia.
In Sierra Leone, the life expectancy at birth is 56.5 years for men, and 57.7 years for women . Although these statistics are low when compared the global average of 71.4 years and countries in the region like Liberia with an average life expectancy of 63.2 years , the average life expectancy in Sierra Leone has increased 5.5 years since 1990 . However, overall, the life expectancy at birth is much lower than global averages.
Without enough doctors and medicine 60.8% of rural population and 39.2% of Urban population lack proper medical care. (“Zambia.”). A common disease that last all year is Malaria, it is a very deadly disease and is caused by the bite of infected mosquitoes. Over a year an approximant amount of 4 million of the population are infected and 8,000 die “Resources.”. Malnutrition is also a problem that needs a solution. This is a result of poverty and not having the right amount of resources for the correct foods and nutrition that your body needs “Log
Medical knowledge is less than adequate in these societies, leading to much illness and a very high death rate. The infant mortality rate is overwhelmingly high, which is a reason for the high birth rates. Many infants do not make it through their first year of life before they get deathly ill - most of them do eventually die from their illness. The medical technology of modern society is so expensive to third world countries, making it extremely difficult for their society to stay healthy. Life expectancy is about 40-45 years in traditional societies.