Failure in
population control is a sign that health sector in the country is worse issue.
And this is a problem of many developing countries. The Report, “Population and Poverty in LDCs Challenges
and Opportunities for Development and Poverty Reduction” says that World’s
48 LDCs have a large and rapidly growing youth population, with some 60% under
the age of 25. Do you know why? The report says 25 girls under 15 years are
getting married daily. In Kenya 36 percent of 19 years old have children.
According to The World Bank, the
rate of population growth in Tanzania – about 3% – is one of the highest in the
world. In addition, the rapid increase of population intensifies pressure on the
institutions responsible for providing basic services such as sewage disposal,
clean water, schools and medical care
Scarcity of
physicians
Scarcity of
physicians to take care of our health is another disturbing health issue in
Tanzania and many developing countries all over. The abuse that most people in
developing countries see dentists when it is already too late-when tooth
extraction is inevitable or ignoring the culture of making checkups should not
be taken into granted. Do you know why? The scarcity of specialists in most
developing countries has made people to opt for miraculous cure. This year’s
rush for the cupful of herbal drink offered by the Rev. Mwaisapila Ambilikile of
Semunge Village in Loliondo by those expecting a miraculous cure is a good
testimony of big health challenging Tanzania Do you know why? The story of
woefully inadequate medical services across East Africa, where health centers
are perennially understaffed, drugs are frequently out of stock, hospice care is
far out of the reach of most terminally ill patients, and the poor, constrained
by finances are forced when their situation has become critical. According to
abstract by Ministry of Health, published in The East Africa Newspaper of April 11-
17th, 2011, the existing health felicities in mainland Tanzania
require approximately 126, 000 health workers. However, only 35,202 professional
health workers are currently engaged in the sector indicating a staggering
deficit of 90,722 or 76 percent staff shortage. In some parts of Tanzania, this
figure can shoot up to four times higher than national average-in Kigoma for
example there is one medical officer per 308,000 of the population, in Mara 167,
00 and Tabora 132,000. There are only 447 specialists in Tanzania 130 a dental
surgeon available which is 76 deficiencies, 90 % deficiency shortage of
physiotherapists because the country holds only 18 physiotherapists.
Unplanned
pregnancies
I was reading
the book called WOMEN WISDOM” and found that 50 percent of babies are the result
of unwanted pregnancies. Likewise the recent reports by African Population and
Health Research Center shows a quarter of 40 millions pregnancies that occur in
Africa are unwanted or unplanned. Do you know why? The report says many women
are ending up with unwanted pregnancies because of low uptake of contraceptive
in most countries. Most when got pregnancies opt for unsafe abortion.
Induced abortion
is illegal in Tanzania except when performed to save the mother’s life. However,
there is widespread practice of illegal induced abortion. Young girls who find
themselves pregnant are expelled from school, a stark reality that is seen as
instrumental to a young girl’s decision to abortion. In a study conducted in
Machame, contends that there is a feeling among the residents that abortion
rates are higher among secondary school students than other categories. About
3,000 of these girls in Tanzania drop from primary schools every year because
they become pregnant at quite an early age.
34 percent of
300 women who were admitted to a hospital in Dar es Salaam, a study found that
34% of them had practiced illegal abortion (Justeen, Kapiga & Asten 1992).
In another study again done in Dar es Salaam, about 35% of the respondents
interviewed had admitted intentionally terminating their pregnancies (Mpangile,
Leshabari & Kihwele 1993). The government believes that up to 30% of beds on
obstetric wards are taken by women who have had unsafe abortions. Any estimate is likely to mask the true
figure, as many women in rural areas never reach hospitals and post-mortems are
often not carried out. Post-abortion care reduces the risk of death, but only 5%
of health facilities provide such services. Marie Stopes Tanzania (MST) provides
such emergency treatment for up to 3,500 women a year. Dr Leopold Tibye is a
doctor in MST's clinic in Dar es Salaam and has seen the impact of illegal
abortion first-hand. Many of his patients are teenagers. Most initially refuse
to admit to having an abortion. All are offered advice on family planning, but
such is the stigma for the unmarried with being seen in a family planning clinic
that few follow up on it.
Dr Tibye has
also worked in Tanzania's remote rural areas. He witnessed the desperate plight
of women who had perforated their uterus with a bicycle spoke or who had severe
infections after forcing cassava roots into their cervix. "Sometimes there is no
transport to take them to hospital in the first place, or there are no
facilities there so they are told to go to the regional hospital. But that might
be 1,200km away. Some die on the way or they just go home and die there."
75, 000
die as a result of unsafe abortions.
Maternal
Mortality
Globally 600,000
women die annually of pregnancy-related causes. Every day in Tanzania 24 women
die for reasons related to pregnancy and delivery. Each day in Africa 700 women
die of pregnancy cases. The major causes are harsh health nurses, lack of
transport, unqualified health professionals, overpopulations, distance from
homes to hospital etc.
Unhealthy life
styles and the problem of Breast Cancer
Breast Cancer is
one of the growing health problems estimated to be affecting thousands of women
in the country, with 2,500 cases of the reported in hospitals in the country
each year. Many people go to hospital when the disease has already reached an
advanced stage. Dealing with such cases is very costly. Problem of breast and
cervix cancer has increased in recent years, as one out of eight women has
cancer. Cancer treatment is very expensive as proper dosage required six units
of drugs each unit costing 180,000/-.
Health
professionals say that change in life styles contribute to the spread of the
disease in developing countries like Tanzania, whereby people consume canned
food, which in most cases lack proteins.
Many women,
especially those in urban areas, buy canned food, but at the end of the day they
end up suffering from the disease. They are therefore likely to be affected by
cancer compared to those living in rural areas, (Dr said
Bokhary)
WHO report shows
that 3million people are poisoned and 200,000 die yearly from pesticides and the
most vulnerable are poverty stricken populations, agricultural workers and
children.
Other basic
services
50 years of
independence Tanzanians are facing difficulties in accessing clean water,
adequate shelter, and other basic services, personal security is low and violent
crime increasing: police seem unable to control it. There are frequent water
cut, electricity blackouts although 18% of Tanzanians are consuming the
electricity, in cities there is inadequate parking space with city soldiers
hunting the cars which violate unknown parking rules. They make these parking
rules unknown to many so that they can get money. This is injustice.
Overflowing
sewage congestion of motorcycles which do not observe traffic regulations,
hospitals with long queue waiting for corrupt and unprofessional doctors who
rarely go to work [KIGOMA], roads with pot holes, pick-pockets and gangs of
armed robbers (Las year our second year student was killed in Dar es Salaam as
he was coming from field attachment), streets without lights but with the strong
smell of uncollected garbage, more beggars singing gospel to impress passersby
to offer them money, disabled, street-children, hawkers, cows and goats which
contribute to traffic jams, and the increase of illegal income-generating
activities like prostitution, black-marketing of drugs and hawking.
Lack of squatter
settlements with such necessities as sanitation facilities, low quality
materials reflected in the song “Hapa
Kwetu Mbagala”. In most cases poor families rent a single room and share the
kitchen and sanitary facilities. More than four people live, cook, eat and sleep
in one room. Pit latrines have multiple purposes as used for bathrooms as well
as garbage
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