The article that I chose was published on February 4, 2013
by Donald G. Mcneil Jr. and is titled “Rwanda’s Health Care Success Story.” In the less than twenty years since the 1994
genocide that almost killed a million and dislocated another two million, the
country has become a public health success story that could be an example for
the rest of Africa, based on a new analysis by American health experts. In an
article published last month by the British Journal BMJ, Dr. Paul E. Farmer,
the success was totaled up and the findings were that the population living
below poverty had dropped from 78 percent to 45 percent, the gross domestic
product has tripled, and almost 99 percent of primary-age-school children are
in school. Also the number of people getting treatment for AIDS has increased
to 108,000 from nearly zero in a decade. There are only 625 doctors for a
population of about 11 million. But there are many nurses and new health care
workers, who do primary care for things such as malaria, pneumonia, family
planning, and childhood shots. Almost 98 percent of all Rwandans have health
insurance and many aspects of preventive care are free. Dr. Farmer wrote, “If
these gains can be sustained, Rwanda will be the only country in the region on
track to meet each of the health-related millennium development goals by 2015.”
Experts disagree on why Rwanda has been successful, with some attributing to
foreign aid while others give credit to the national government.
I found it amazing how Rwanda has found a way to rebuild
their country after the genocide almost two decades ago. Everything from the
population living below poverty from the number of children in school, to even
the number of people who are being treated for AIDS has improved. Hopefully the
success of Rwanda will also benefit other countries in Africa and they will be
able to rebuild themselves also since the region as a whole is suffering
tremendously. To do this, countries such as the United States should step in to
aid them in improving their quality of life. If Rwanda can find success as a
country after a genocide, then other countries can also find similar success with
the help of other countries and the national government.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/05/science/rwandas-health-care-success-story.html?ref=world&_r=0Bria Gill
2/05/13
1:09 PM
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