Nigeria and Education

Although recently Nigeria has been split through racial, economic, and other tensions, it is not the classic picture of a chaotic African country that we would picture. Take, for example, education in Nigeria. The adult literacy rate is 66.8%, and the percentage of children enrolled in primary (elementary) school is 74% for males, and 60% for females. This relatively high percentage of education can be attributed partly to Nigeria's extremely vast supplies of oil and the capital gained from its sale, which allow for the infrastructure and networking required for a working education system. The HIV/AIDS infection percentage for Nigeria is around 5%, as opposed to the 7% in the rest of the African Region. The use of condoms in young people is approximately half for men, and a quarter for women. This possibly shows the effects of education regarding sex, STDs, and safe sex in general.

However, looking at the other statistics for Nigeria in the World Health Organization's factsheet, Nigeria's education levels appear contradictory in relation to figures such as the relatively high infant-mortality, high amount of people living below the poverty line, low percentages of access to improved sanitation and water supplies (in relation to the rest of the African Region).

Tanzania

In 1967, the Arusha Declaration was passed making Tanzania a socialist country. Initially this reduced the amount of corruption and stabilized the government. Tanzania seemed to be better off than many other African countries. 

Even though Tanzania shared its wealth, their wasn't much to share. Inadequate soil and rainfall made agriculture a difficult center for their economy. The low resources have stunted the growth of the country and created much poverty both in urban and rural areas. 

Both malaria and AIDS are huge causes of death for Tanzania and this may result from their urban poverty. Their number of adult deaths is much higher than other African countries. Part of this could be attributed to their lack of resources ie. food. 

Kenya: Urban vs. Rural

I looked at Kenya, a country that opted for capitalism. Though Kenya is successful in that it has a strong middle class, this wealth is based mostly in the capital, Nairobi. Elsewhere, unemployment, landlessness, and income inequities are fairly high. From WHO I found that around 42% of the population lives in urban areas. They are probably the successful middle class, flourishing in the capital. However, this leaves over half the population to other areas in the country. According to World History, almost one-fifth of Kenya's thirty million people are squatters, with unemployment estimated at nearly 45%. Combining these statistics with the ones from WHO, you can see that, though just under half of the population is doing well, and equal amount of people are suffering--unworking and possibly homeless. According to WHO, just about 23% of the people in Kenya live below the poverty level (under $1 a day). So basically, half of the population of Kenya is doing fine. Another quarter live in squalor. All of those, plus a quarter more, are unemployed. There is some discrepancy between the WHO data and the data from Wolrd History. In World History 80% of the population is said to remain rural, while only 20% occupies urban areas. Naturally, with these different statistics, the statistics for the percent of the population below the poverty line were also much higher: 40% of Kenyans. In either case, of the people that live in rural areas, about half are moneyless--a very concerning statistic. Is the middle class so focused on "the tradition of aggressive commerce" that they do not see how bad off the majority of the rest of their country is?

Rural Life In Kenya

I decided to look at the quality of life in rural areas in Kenya, a very interesting and recently messed-up country.  According to the WHO website, only 58% of Kenyan citizens live in rural environments, as opposed to a whopping 84% for nearby Ethiopia, but the information given is from 2005.  On the CIA World Factbook, Kenya's urban population is listed at only 22%, and the data is from 2008.  It also lists that the urbanization rate over the last five years has been roughly 4%, so people are continuing to move into the cities.  

Despite this information, Kenya remains a country most recognized for its small tribal villages which have kept the same way of life for centuries.  While culturally stimulating, this system has proven to be unproductive in terms of raising the standard of living for the majority of Kenyans.  The national unemployment rate is around 45%, higher than the average in Africa, which is mildly surprising considering Kenya's relatively strong economy.  Also, 75% of the country's workforce are agricultural workers, mostly using archaic and inefficient methods, again hampering the potential for growth.  

Although the image of men with spears herding cattle is a beautiful defining image, Kenya's rural population is far too great to be efficient in moving the country towards a better future.

Ethiopia+Rural Areas

I researched the facts about Ethiopia and its urban/rural population. Ethiopia has a very low percentage of people living in urban area (16 percent). The other people live on farms and other rural areas. The adult literacy rate is 9.4 percent, which is below the average for Africa. The net primary school enrollment ratio is also below average. This is caused by not a lot of people living in urban areas where education can be provided. Ethiopia also lacks people that work in the health systems. They only have 93 dentists and less than 2000 physicians for the whole country. All of their statistics for health workers are a lot below the average line in Africa.

Central Africa at War

The basic focus point of the problems of central Africa from the textbook was that it was always at war and there was constant civil war.  When I looked on the WHO for the Central African Republic's Death Causes I found it interesting that it didn't have war or fighting as one of the causes.  Then I looked back in the textbook and thought maybe go more towards individual country, so I looked up the Democratic Republic of Congo and found that 5% of all of the deaths (something like 44 of 987) were caused by war.  I thought that was a little amazing among itself, 5% of the country dies because of war (I think annually).  

Next I looked up Rwanda and then Burundi.  Again, for Rwanda, war wasn't even listed, but for Burundi it was 7% or about 8 out of 120 people.  The textbook said that there was constant civil war and even with talks of peace it still continues on and on, so you would have to think that these fatality numbers are constant from year to year.  This seems amazing considering all of the other potential problems that Africa has, from diseases to economic problems, to still have that many people die annually in these countries is a little ridiculous.

Ethiopia - Rural Life

In the 1970's, Ethiopia decided to instate a society based on the principles of socialism. But, they were not successful, which is clear from the large discrepancies that exist between rural and urban life. In rural parts of Ethiopia, only 11% of people have access to clean water. This number is frightening low especially compared to the 88% that receive clean water in urban cities. Also, 19% of urban people have improved sanitation, while only 4% of rural people have this. On top of this, of the 23% of people that live under $1, 65% are from rural areas.

These numbers show that the socialist government, which was overthrown in 1990, did not live up to the demands of socialism. They did not make sure that equal services were provided to all people, even in basic services like access to clean water and sanitary living conditions. There is a large difference between rural and urban life, and while urban conditions may not be the best, it is definitely better than conditions in rural areas.

But, the greatest problem that Ethiopia faces currently is not this divide, it is lack of health care. The ratio of deaths under the age of five is actually not too different between rural and urban areas. There are 1.3 rural deaths for every 1 urban death. In both rural and urban areas, the amount children dying, often of preventable diseases, is astounding (up to 20%).

Rural Life in Tanzania

After the Arusha Declaration of 1967, Tanzania became a socialist state. This resulted in stagnant economy, but helped cure corruption and political instability. However, Tanzania is faced with low rainfall and poor soil, worsening the life of people living in rural areas. This fits in to the larger African pattern of internal migration, where people move from rural areas to cities.

One factor that may explain the difficulty of rural life in Tanzania is the poor health services. The main health issue of Tanzania is, supposedly, the lack of outreach both in terms of medical supplies and equipment, and awareness of such diseases such as HIV/AIDS. 29% of all deaths in Tanzania are caused by AIDS. Also, malaria, the third leading cause of death in Tanzania, which mostly occurs in rural areas, accounts for 5.6% of all deaths in Tanzania.

However, urban life in Tanzania doesn't seem to be much better than rural life. The under-5 mortality rate for rural Tanzania is of 16.6%, whereas the same figure for urban Tanzania is still a whopping 14.2%. In addition, diarrhoeal diseases (4th leading cause of death in Tanzania) account for 3.6% of all deaths in Tanzania. Water quality, though, is equally poor all over the country.

Kenya's Health Statistics

Kenya has major healthcare problems.  The life expectancy is 51 years, and 12% of people die before age 5.  Only 4.6% of their money is spent on health care, and considering the fact that Kenya has an insanely high AIDS rate and has had several Rift Fever outbreaks, that seems like a low number.

WHOOOOO Are You, WHO WHO WHO WHO

The first thing I noticed about Cameroon is the life expectancy rate for men and women. For men its 50 years, and for women its 51 years. The WHO African Region life expectancy rate for men is 47 years, and 49 years for women. Despite the large rate of Malaria related deaths for children under 5, I calculated that the people of Cameroon can expect to live 2.5 years longer than the people of the WHO African Region. I also realized that even though the leading cause of death for children under the age of 5 is Malaria, the leading cause of death for everyone is HIV/AIDS. And with kids dying young of Malaria, and adults dying of HIV/AIDS, the amount of children being made is decreasing. To prove this, it says that the annual growth rate for Cameroon in 2004 was 1.9, whereas it was 2.2 for the WHO African Region