Project Preparation
Deanna Buchanan
Southern New Hampshire University
IHP 501: Global Health and Diversity
Esther Johnstone
Project Preparation
This paper introduces the selected scenario for the proposed humanitarian aid trip. Humanitarian aid is important not only in saving lives but also alleviating suffering. It ensures that vulnerable individuals and populations affected by a crisis receive the necessary protection, assistance, and medical care they need to alleviate suffering. The topic of focus is that of malaria in an African country. Malaria is responsible for the deaths of thousands of people each year while causing untold suffering among those affected. Hence, it is vital to explore this issue in order to have a good comprehension of the underlying challenges and provide relevant solutions.
Scenario
The selected scenario for the proposed humanitarian aid trip is Option 1. This scenario entails traveling to Zambia to address the country’s health challenge of malaria. My personal rationale for selecting this scenario is that I am disturbed that an entire nation’s health, wellness, and overall productivity are being hampered by a preventable and treatable disease. The benefit that I believe I can bring to this challenge is to utilize my educational background, resources, and privilege to help this country get a sustainable approach to addressing this problem. I believe I can help inform the use of existing tools to help Zambia effectively save lives while taking steps to eradicate malaria.
According to Chipoya and Shimaponda-Mataa (2020), malaria is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in Zambia especially in the highly endemic areas; by 2018, there were approximately 5,193,723 reported cases of malaria with up to 1209 deaths. To this end, Loewenberg (2018) notes that Zambia is one of the countries in the world that is focused on malaria elimination rather than malaria control. Nawa, Halwindi, and Hangoma (2020) reveal that the substantial eradication and prevention efforts in this regard have seen a malaria prevalence reduction to 19.4% in 2015 from 33% in 2006. Nevertheless, malaria continues to be a huge problem in the country.
Population
The target country is Zambia, a country located in southern Africa. Regarding the socioeconomic profile of Zambia, this country is among the ones that have the highest levels of inequality and poverty in the world. This is a low-income country considering that the national debt exceeds 120 percent of the GDP (Saungweme& Odhiambo, 2019). Regarding the demographic profile of this country, Zambia has a total population of approximately 19, 642, 123 people with a growth rate of 2.9% (Saungweme& Odhiambo, 2019). The sex ratio is 1 male(s)/female while the median age of the entire population is 16.9 years. There are approximately 20 ethnic groups and over 70 languages although the majority of them are dialects. The country is majorly made up of Christians with 75.3% being Protestants and 20.2% being Roman Catholics (Saungweme& Odhiambo, 2019).
Prevalent Health Concerns
The problem of focus in the scenario is malaria. Chipoya and Shimaponda-Mataa (2020) report that approximately 16 million people in the country are at risk of contracting the disease. As aforementioned, malaria is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in Zambia. Malaria can cause jaundice and anemia. If left untreated, it could lead to seizures, kidney failure, and even death. Additionally, malaria causes high medical costs, reduced economic output, and lost income. Other prevalent health concerns facing Zambia include tuberculosis, diarrheal diseases, neonatal disorders, and HIV/AIDS.
Social Determinants
- Education: In Zambia, every child has the right to access free basic education. The country has made efforts to expand education access. Nevertheless, regional disparities and poor learning outcomes persist. Ease of access is only in urban settings. The low level of educational attainment for many Zambians adversely affects their income and subsequent ability to afford proper healthcare services.
- Healthcare: Zambia has made substantial investments in healthcare reforms in order to attain universal healthcare access for all Zambians. Despite these efforts, many poor people continue facing barriers to accessing high-quality and safe healthcare services (Rudasingwa et al., 2022).
- Economic Stability: After the Covid-19 pandemic, Zambia’s economy fell into deep recession with the GDP contracting by approximately 4.9 percent (Saungweme& Odhiambo, 2019). This deterioration has adversely impacted key sectors in Zambia’s economy including the ability of Zambians to easily access high-quality healthcare services.
- Inequity: In Zambia, 61 percent of the population earns less than the global poverty line of $2.15 each day (Mphuka, Kaonga, & Tembo, 2022). Consequently, wage income is considered to be the major reason behind income inequality. Another reason is non-agricultural self-employment, which accounts for 31 percent of the country’s inequality. With many people living below the poverty line, accessing high-quality healthcare services is a problem.
Conclusion
The selected scenario for the proposed humanitarian aid trip is Option 1. This scenario entails traveling to Zambia to address the country’s health challenge of malaria.Malaria is responsible for the deaths of thousands of people each year while causing untold suffering among those affected. Hence, it is vital to explore this issue in order to have a good comprehension of the underlying challenges and provide relevant solutions. This paper has highlighted the four social determinants that impact healthcare in Zambia. Additionally, the paper has revealed that malaria is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in Zambia. Malaria can cause jaundice and anemia. If left untreated, it could lead to seizures, kidney failure, and even death. Additionally, malaria causes high medical costs, reduced economic output, and lost income. It is vital to explore this issue in order to have a good comprehension of the underlying challenges and provide relevant solutions.
References
Chipoya, M. N., &Shimaponda-Mataa, N. M. (2020). Prevalence, characteristics and risk factors of imported and local malaria cases in North-Western Province, Zambia: A cross-sectional study. Malaria Journal, 19(1), 1-12.
Loewenberg, S. (2018). Zambia’s drive to eliminate malaria faces challenges. World Health Organization. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 96(5), 302-303.
Mphuka, C., Kaonga, O., & Tembo, M. A. (2022). Economic growth, inequality, and poverty: Estimating the growth elasticity of poverty in Zambia, 2006–2015. In Inequality in Zambia (pp. 83-119). Routledge.
Nawa, M., Halwindi, H., &Hangoma, P. (2020). Modelling malaria reduction in a highly endemic country: Evidence from household survey, climate, and program data in Zambia. Journal of Public Health in Africa, 11(1), 22–28.
Rudasingwa, M., De Allegri, M., Mphuka, C., Chansa, C., Yeboah, E., Bonnet, E., … &Chitah, B. M. (2022). Universal health coverage and the poor: To what extent are health financing policies making a difference? Evidence from a benefit incidence analysis in Zambia. BMC Public Health, 22(1), 1-11.
Saungweme, T., & Odhiambo, N. M. (2019). Government debt, government debt service and economic growth nexus in Zambia: A multivariate analysis. Cogent Economics & Finance, 7(1), 1622998.
