Medical
Medical
The Current Status of Healthcare in Africa
Africa and its inhabitants have had to face hunger crisis, starvation, homelessness, violence, and fatal diseases. To make things worse, inequality has grown drastically as a result of unemployment in the continent. These factors compound automatically into the lack of adequate health services for the masses.
In 2015, 1.6 million Africans died from illnesses related to HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria — all of which could have been treated or prevented altogether with access to healthcare services. Moreover, 50 per cent of children under the age of five die in Africa due to measles, diarrhoea, pneumonia, malaria, HIV, and tuberculosis.
Only 2 per cent of the drugs consumed on land are manufactured within the continent; the bigger chunk needs to be imported, which Africa may not be able to afford. In addition, public health facilities with limited infrastructure, skilled personnel, and resources have left 80 per cent of middle-income earners in Africa exposed to suffering at the hands of curable diseases. Nigeria’s public health sector has one doctor per 2,000 natives, which may be higher than many of its African neighbours but ranks low on the global scale — Tanzania has it much worse with one doctor per 30,000 natives, ranking at 156 of the 191 countries.
With this fragile health system in place in Africa, the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 was bound to be chaotic.
Offering Health Support Program For Masses in Africa
As of September 2021, 47 countries have been affected by the COVID-19 disease, with 5,741,354 cumulative cases, of which 139,481 resulted in deaths. The gaps in health care services in Africa have emerged at a breakneck speed post the World Health Organization declaring the COVID-19 a pandemic in March 2020. The insufficient investments made by the government of Africa in healthcare (in terms of the infrastructure and the equipment) have made it difficult for healthcare workers to operate during the pandemic.
Africa lacks access to testing for COVID-19, isolating confirmed or suspected patients, tracing contacts, and treating patients with severe symptoms. The need for building a resilient health system across Africa can only be fulfilled by offering adequate pandemic relief to Africa. This must include the supply of protective equipment, diagnostic laboratory testing, mechanical ventilators, therapeutics, isolation of confirmed or suspected patients, contact tracing, and treatment for severe illnesses. Alongside, the implementation of vital infection control measures such as social distancing, lockdowns, and frequent handwashing is critical for slowing down the spread of the lethal virus in Africa.
Support Services for a Better Life Quality in Africa
Join hands with My Bridge International UK to provide healthcare support services in Africa. We’re facilitating the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi, Liberia, Niger, and Malawi to save the children from starvation by providing hunger relief. Together we can also donate to support groups for health financing and infrastructure development to save a life. After all, to save a life is as though you had saved all of mankind.
For more information on the difference, your contributions could make to Africa, email us at info@mybridgeinternational.org.