African Health Issues
African Health Issues
 Famine, AIDS, and malaria are among
Africa’s biggest health problems.
 Africa is a large continent with many
Countries and 800 million people.
 It is also the poorest continent in the world.
African Health Issues
 Africa had many natural resources before
European colonization.
 Today, however, there is widespread
poverty throughout Africa.
 Many health problems are caused or made
worse by poverty.
 Poverty creates poor living conditions, such
as lack of clean water or food.
African Health Issues
 People living in poor conditions often get
sick.
 They may live in crowded areas that are
dirty.
 They may not have doctors or medicine.
 People living in poverty may not have the
education to know how to stop the spread of
disease.
Famine in Africa
 Famine occurs when a region does not
have enough food for a long period of time.
 People who are starving can die from
malnutrition.
 Famines are both human-made and natural.
 Drought, or lack of rain, makes food scarce
because crops die.
Famine in Africa
 Human forces, like wars, can also cause
food shortages.
 People in a region can be without food
because its cost is too high.
 All of these factors have led to famines in
Africa.
Famine in Africa
 Famines in Africa today are the result of
poor food distribution and poverty.
 There is enough food on Earth for everyone
to eat well.
 However, many people live where they
cannot grow food.
 People also live where food cannot be easily
transported.
Famine in Africa
 Many famines have taken place in the Horn of
Africa.
 The Horn of Africa is a large peninsula in the
northeast region of the continent.
 Famines in this region include the Ethiopian
Famine of the mid-1980s, which is estimated to
have killed over a million people.
 This famine was made worse by high food prices
and overpopulation,
Famine in Africa
 On the continent, the risk of famine is
highest in Sub-Saharan Africa.
 Today, Niger, southern Sudan, Somalia, and
Zimbabwe are areas with emergency famine
status.
 Africa’s greatest humanitarian crisis is in
Darfur, in western Sudan.
 A humanitarian crisis is one in which many
human lives are at risk in a region.
Malaria in Africa
 Malaria is a tropical disease spread by
mosquitoes.
 Each year, more than one million people die
from malaria.
 Children in Sub-Saharan Africa are most at
risk of death from the disease.
 For instance, malaria is the leading cause of
death in children under five in Uganda.
Malaria in Africa
 There is no vaccine against malaria.
 However, there are ways to reduce the
spread of the disease.
 Insecticides and mosquito nets can
drastically lower the number of infections.
 Anti-malaria drugs can also help, but they
are very expensive.
Malaria in Africa
 Unfortunately many of the regions where the
risk of malaria is highest are also poor.
 People in these areas cannot afford to buy
mosquito nets or insecticides to kill
mosquitoes.
 According to the World Health Organization
malaria is a disease that is caused by
poverty, and it’s a disease that also can lead
to poverty.
HIV and AIDS in Africa
 The spread of acquired immunodeficiency
syndrome (AIDS) due to infection by the
human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is
the most severe health crisis in the world.
 It is Considered a pandemic, a widespread
epidemic HI V/AIDS attacks and destroys
the body’s power to fight illness.
 HIV/AIDS is spread through bodily fluids like
blood, semen, and breast milk.
HIV and AIDS in Africa
 Africa has the highest rates of HIV infection
in the world.
 Seventeen million people have died from
AIDS on the continent.
 Over two-thirds of all HIV infections in the
world are in Africa.
 One-third of all AIDS deaths in the world in
2005 occurred in Sub-Saharan Africa.
HIV and AIDS in Africa
 AIDS/HIV is a major threat to the people of
Africa.
 The spread of AIDS lowers the life
expectancy of entire populations.
 Life expectancy is a measure of how long
people can expect to live.
 Over 12 million African children have been
orphaned by AIDS.
HIV and AIDS in Africa
 There are drugs that slow down the
progress of HIV infection to AIDS.
 However, there is no cure for AIDS.
Education and prevention are the most
important tools for fighting AIDS.
 Africa needs more money to pay for
education and prevention programs.
Health Issues
 Health issues in Africa are made worse by
unstable politics.
 In turn, unstable politics contribute to
poverty.
 High death rates due to health crises
weaken economies.
 In this way, the issues of health, economics,
and politics are intertwined.
Summary
 Explain how poverty, malaria and HIV/AIDS
are a major problem in Africa. (include
causes, effects and possible solutions)