Africa has less that 11
percent of the world population yet it contains 24 percent of the global burden
of diseases. Osotimehin, the old health minister for Nigeria wants to lower the
death, disease, and poverty rates in Africa. He urged the leaders to discuss
the health issues that are facing Africa. It was said that 450 females from
Africa die daily while giving birth to children. The female death rate in
Africa accounts for 50 percent of preventable death in the entire world. Eighty
percent of the countries with the highest rate of child marriage in the world are
in Africa. Young pregnancy is the leading cause of death in young girls. As a solution to the problem, Ostimehin
suggested that leaders increase the funding to take a stand against poverty and
address issues that have an effect on both the young and the poor population. Among
those issues was inequality among genders. Ostimehin said that females needed
to exercise their rights and empower themselves.
When I read this
article I think back to the first chapter in our book. Specifically, I think
about the modernization and the dependency theory. From the book, I learned
that the dependency theory states that poor countries may face exploitation,
domination, and economic distortions at the hand of richer countries. I believe
that this theory applies to Africa because it is an economically poor country
that is not as modernized as other countries and it has already faced
exploitation in the past. Although the land itself is rich, a large percentage
of people that live in Africa are poor. Without modernization and access to the
medicines and education that other countries may have, the death and disease
rate is increasing. I also thought about the norms in Africa. If it is normal for
young adolescents to have children in Africa, the deaths of young females may
also be seen as a norm to people that live in Africa.
Khadijah Tucker
10/5/2013
6:07
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