Country with High Mortality rates

Country with High Mortality rates

Introduction

Zimbabwe is a landlocked country found in southern Africa known for its dramatic landscape and diverse wildlife, much of it within parks, reserves and safari areas.  I have decided to conduct my research and study on this country since it is surrounded by very bold political and economic realms that are very questioning.

Location

Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in southern Africa.

Population

The population of Zimbabwe has grown during the 20th century in accordance with the model of a developing country with high birth rates and falling death rates, resulting in relatively high population growth rate (around 3% or above in the 1960s ). The population of Zimbabwe is about 14.15 million. The high death rate is due to the impact of AIDS which is by far the main cause of death. This leads to a small natural increase of around 0.5%. However, outward

Migration rates of around 1.5% or more have been experienced for over a decade, therefore actual population changes are uncertain.

Government

The government of Zimbabwe is divided into three major bodies. The constitution, it provides the three arms of the state namely executive, judiciary and the legislature. The executive implements the constitutional laws. The president of the state is the head of the executive. The president is elected for a six year term (Kinsey 1998). The Constitution provides for two vice-presidents at a time who are appointed by the President. The judiciary interprets the law. The president appoints the chief justice who is the head of the supreme and high court. The legislature is entitled with the role of making and amending laws.

Economy

            Zimbabwe has seized and forcibly redistributed most of the country’s commercial farms. Zimbabwe is endowed with minerals which are traded both locally and internationally (Kinsey 1998). The economy of Zimbabwe entails infrastructure, mining activities, trade, energy and much more. Zimbabwe has adequate internal transportation and electrical power networks; however maintenance has been neglected over several years. Poorly paved roads link the major urban and industrial centers, and rail lines managed by the National Railway of Zimbabwe tie it into an extensive central African railroad network with all its neighbors. The Energy in Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority is responsible for providing the country with electrical energy (Garlake 1973). The electrical energy is generated is generated from Kariba Dam which is owned together with Zambia and also from Hwange Thermal Power Station. However, total generation capacity does not meet the demand leading to shortages and blackouts. The Hwange station is not capable of using its full capacity due to old age and maintenance neglect. In 2006, crumbling infrastructure and lack of spare parts for generators and coal mining lead to Zimbabwe importing 40% of its power from DRC, Mozambique and Zambia.

In Zimbabwe, the telephone service is problematic, and new lines used to be difficult to obtain. A telephone service was not reliable. With the new Sim cards communication has become easy. Simcards are readily available at most retail shops. Zimbabwe has only one terrestrial service provider however and the lack of competitiveness impacts badly the local population (David 1985). The foundation for any economy is the ability to support itself by utilizing its natural resources, usually from the agricultural sector. If a country cannot supply itself, or trade for food, then there is no need for gold or electronics.

According to the World Health Organization, about half of Zimbabwe is starving to death due to the failing agricultural sector (Moore 2005). Agriculture in Zimbabwe is divided into industrialized farming of crops such as cotton, tobacco, coffee and peanuts. Subsistence farming includes staple crops such as maize and wheat. This part of the agricultural economy was highly profitable and large amounts of the produce were exported. Subsistence farming is important for the black majority and has gained importance under the land redistribution program (David 1985). Industrialized farming was once the backbone of the domestic Zimbabwe economy and contributed up to 40% of the exported produce. This was deteriorated with eviction of the white farmers from the country. Maize is the largest domestic staple crop in Zimbabwe while tobacco is the greatest export followed by cotton.

Platinum, coal, iron ore, gold and diamonds are the major minerals mined in Zimbabwe. The mining of gold is riffed with corruption, an activity that pulls the economy of the country down. There is also lack of transparency among the diamond fields (Nyamapfene 1991). The education system in Zimbabwe effects the development of the economy while the state of the economy can affect access and quality of teachers and education. Zimbabwe has one of Africa’s highest literacy rates at over 90%. The population is usually better educated than the African average, making the people one of the greatest assets of the country (Garlake 1973). The crisis since 2000 has however diminished these achievements because of general lack of resources and the exodus of teachers to other countries.

Inflation. The currency in Zimbabwe has been experiencing a rampant decline in value for the past eight years. Because of the hyperinflation, the largest denomination of the former Zimbabwean dollars was not able to buy a loaf of bread. Over the past 10 years, Zimbabwe has accrued the largest public debt in the world, amounting to 240 percent of their GDP6 (Moore 2005). As the deficit grows, the government has been paying it off by continually printing out money, leading to an exponentially increasing inflation rate. The Zimbabwean dollar has lost its aspect of being a store of value because the value of any biodegradable good will decreases slower than the value of the money that was used to buy that good. If you are a farmer, you are better off holding on to your goods than exchanging them for money. The currency cannot serve as a medium of exchange because businesses are refusing to use it, favoring foreign currencies instead (Kinsey 1998). Lastly, the currency cannot serve as a unit of account because it cannot properly measure the value of the goods in the market; they are changing too rapidly.

State of Health (Diseases/Accidents)

The Zimbabwean health situation can be characterized as recovering after unprecedented decline during the first decade of this millennium. There was deterioration of infrastructure, lack of investment, poor remuneration of health workers, shortage of essential supplies and commodities that led to the near collapse of the health sector in late 2008, and early 2009. Life expectancy at birth in Zimbabwe has improved from a low of 35 years mid- 2000 to an estimated 58 years by 2012. According to 2012 census, infant and under-5 mortality improved from 65 and 102 in the 1990s to 64 and 84 per 1000 live births respectively in 2012.

Maternal mortality remains very high at 570 per 100 000 live births in 2012, though it has significantly dropped from a peak of 960 per 100 000 live births in 2010. Admittedly the country is not on track to meet its health MDG targets 4 & 5. However the country is on track to achieving its HIV and malaria targets in MDG 6. Although the country’s burden of communicable diseases remains high, Zimbabwe has made some positive strides with respect to reducing HIV prevalence from a peak of 33% in mid 1990s to the current prevalence of 15% (2012). On the other hand, Zimbabwe is now facing an increasing threat of no communicable diseases like cardiovascular diseases.

The problem of maternal mortality has become an international concern. Currently, we are having a large number of women who die from avoidable causes. Women in Zimbabwe suffer a high risk of dying during pregnancy, childbirth or even puerperium. The maternal mortality rate has been done at facility level within Zimbabwe in the past 30 years (Kinsey.1998). Census is used to monitor Mortality rate. The Demographic and Health Surveys are also used ,These are the Births and Deaths Registration Act (1986) and the Medical, Dental and Allied Professions Act for estimating the number of deaths from maternal causes, mainly because of its applicability to a demographic “envelope” of deaths at maternal ages.

The health of citizens is at risk e following disease are deadly ,HIV/AIDS The Joint United Nations Programmed on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the WHO established an Epidemiology Reference Group to work toward making estimates and projections of mortality on a biennial basis. Country-level information on the prevalence of infection among attendants at antenatal clinics and sexually transmitted disease clinics and prevalence among other high-risk groups, such as intravenous drug users, homosexual males, and commercial sex workers, has been used to monitor epidemics at the country level. Using these data, an epidemiological model was developed that included the following parameters (Moore.2005). For children, the survival curve was built to account for two periods of high mortality, which are infancy, when HIV frequently overwhelms the immature immune system, and after age nine years, when the response to HIV infection resembles that in adults. Overall, the survival curve for children predicts 40 percent survival from HIV-related mortality at five years of age.

The UNAIDS/WHO model was used to develop country-specific point estimates of HIV/AIDS mortality for 2001 .The estimated regional death toll from this disease for Sub-Saharan Africa stands at a total of 2.2 million deaths(Moore.2005). Policy decisions aimed at addressing this epidemic should include activities aimed at improving such measurements.

Cancers Ferlay and colleagues, at the International Agency for Research on Cancer developed a data set of worldwide estimates of cancer incidence, mortality, and prevalence for the year 2000, which they called the Globocan 2000. Their mortality estimates were based on vital registration data were available; for other regions they used information from survival models derived from available cancer registry data(Kinsey.1998). These mortality estimates did not correct for under-reporting in vital registration or for possible misclassification of causes of death.

Culture/Traditional Medicine

Introduction Zimbabwean traditional religion and traditional medicine are inseparable and their relationship may in some cases be viewed as synergistic, but ideally the nature of traditional medicine in Zimbabwe demands that it be under the influence and control of traditional religion(Moore.2005). Many people in Zimbabwe, the youth in particular, appear to be unclear as regards the strengths and weaknesses of traditional medicine, criticizing it as being unhygienic and lacking in efficacy. Some of this criticism is a result of lack of information concerning the nature of traditional medicine and how it works.

Traditional medicine is not talked about openly because of sociological labeling by colonial governments and missionaries as they attempted to blindly discredit it and replace it with Western medical systems (Nyamapfene.1991) .Any effort that the reader may want to exert towards understanding of the deep-seated traditional medical aspects of the indigenous people of Zimbabwe must be informed by the historical considerations of the Bantu people, dating back to the Pharaonic era in Egypt.

Large numbers of African families consult traditional healers for their health care needs because these practitioners are accessible, affordable, culturally appropriate and acceptable. They explain illness in terms that are familiar because they are part of the local belief systems . Traditional medicine is part of culture, which itself is always getting modified with time and all medicine is modern, disease and illness are intricately interwoven in the social status of the group concerned. When one is attacked by a disease, he or she cannot perform his or her duties and functions within the social group (David.1985). The individual’s illness affects the group, which will begin therapy by giving traditional medicine to the patient at home. When the patient fails to respond to home therapy, elders consult one another and recommend a specialist healer.

Healthcare System and delivery

Government health relates agencies in Zimbabwe the ministry of Health and child care facilitate delivery (Garlake.1973). Healthcare personnel including the professional doctors and nurses also play a major role in promoting healthcare.

Health Priorities

Health priorities based on the global health organizations like WHOM. Enhancing capacity for emergency preparedness and response. Another very important priority is health promotion and protection of healthy environments(Kinsey.1998) .Disease prevention and control strengthen through measurement of progress towards achievement of the mdgs.

References

David Lan. (1985). Guns & rain: guerrillas & spirit mediums in Zimbabwe (No. 38). University of California Press.

Garlake, P. S. (1973). Great Zimbabwe. Stein & Day Pub.

Kinsey, B., Burger, K., & Gunning, J. W. (1998). Coping with drought in Zimbabwe: Survey evidence on responses of rural households to risk. World Development, 26(1), 89-110.

Moore, D. S. (2005). Suffering for territory: Race, place, and power in Zimbabwe (p. 6). Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

Nyamapfene, K. W. (1991). The soils of Zimbabwe (Vol. 1). Nehanda Publishers.