Malaria in Nigeria BArrier to development
Section 1:
The barrier to development that I have chosen is Malaria. Malaria has a huge effect on the development of a country. The definition of Malaria: An intermittent and remittent fever caused by a protozoan parasite which invades the red blood cells and is transmitted by mosquitoes in many tropical and subtropical regions. Malaria can be worse if the country is lacking services and tertiary jobs.
Malaria affects many parts of the world , but mainly in Africa. The top four countries most affected by Malaria are Mozambique, Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria and Burkina Faso. Places like the ones listed above are more strongly effected than others because they are all one of a Lower Ecomonically Developed Country (LEDC). This means they have a poorer chance of carrying out their solution to their problem. They may be a LEDC due to being landlocked, their land and weather conditions, lack of natural resources, lack of trading their resources,lack of tourism to generate income or conflict.
Section 2:
The country I picked for my chosen barrier of development is Nigeria. I chose Nigeria as it is one country that is the most effected by Malaria. Also, Malaria in Nigeria also leads to a domino effect of a lot of other problems Nigeria suffers from.
The life expectancy of Nigeria is only 54 years which is quite low compared to the UK's life expectancy which is around 82 years old. This is due to poor sanitation and their susceptibility to all kinds of adversity.
Around 40% of global Malaria deaths occur in just two countries: Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Malaria is a risk for more than 90% of Nigeria's population and contributes also to an estimated 11% of maternal mortality. There are an estimated 100 million Malaria cases with over 300,000 deaths per year in Nigeria.
Malaria is transmitted by Mosquitos and Mosquitos breed in warm and humid countries. Therefore Malaria and Mosquitos are not in cold or dry countries such as the UK or USA. This is proved by the image below which shows Malaria mostly around Africa.
Also, it is common for flash floods to occur around May to September, this can increase the amount of deaths and can damage crops and infrastructure. This means the government and money raised will not go towards medication and treatment but instead it will go towards rebuilding infastructures and to get the country going again.
Nigeria also has a low Gross Domestic Product Rate (GDP) of 521.8 Billion USD. This is because their population is dying do they have less workforce and therefore produce less income and products for selling or for their country.
Malaria in Nigeria also leads to a lower life expectancy rate, a lower infant mortality rate, more people per doctor so poorer treatment per person, therefore more deaths. More money used on equipment and hospitals therefore poorer infrastructure,machinery to extract natural resources or housing which may lead to more Malaria patients due to their environment. The economy also has a big effect on Malaria because if the government is bad due to them all not being educated enough or by them being corrupted, then the healthy will be worse because the money is not being used for the treatment of patients. This will also make the people more prone to the disease as the treatment will be more worse.
Section 3:
Malaria affects millions each year in Africa and around the world: Over half a million (627, 000) people die from Malaria each year, mostly children younger than five years old. There are an estimated 207million cases of Malaria each year. Though these numbers all sound huge, many individuals, charities and countries are helping to fight this diesease which can affect almost half the world.
Also charities such as WaterAid and SavetheChildren doesn't necessarily directly target Malaria but can still help reduce Malaria. Such as water sanitation and reducing child poverty. The UK government set up a £1bn fund to help fight Malaria. The £1bn will come from the UK's overseas aid budget over the next five years. Bill Gates was the co- chairman of the foundation and was partnered up with the Ross fund. Of the total:
£115m is for research into new drugs, and Insecticides for malaria, TB and other infectious diseases. A further £188m will be spent on improving rapid response systems to fast-spreading diseases such as Ebola.
The government is expected to continue spending 0.7% of GDP on overseas aid. A report published in 2015, showed 663 million cases of malaria have been prevented in Africa as a result of concerted efforts to tackle the disease since 2000.
Individuals that are helping fight Malaria are Bill and Melinda Gates who have a a foundation called the Gatesfoundation. They have done work in Europe, China, the Middle East, Africa and India.. To date, they have committed nearly $2 billion in grants to combat malaria. In addition, they have committed more than $1.6 billion to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, which provides about 50 percent of international funding for Malaria control worldwide.Simple things like sleeping under insecticide treated nets can reduce overall child mortality by 20 per cent. So the money raised has helped reduce millions of Malaria cases each year starting from 1999.
Another charity is continuing to raise money is Malaria No More. Many celebrities are involved with this charity and Malaria No More are also partnering up with other charities to make communities recognise how much Malaria affects people and their lives, Malaria No More works in partnership with UNICEF, the American Red Cross, the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, United Way of America, United Nations Foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and others.
So, many foundations are based in America as it is a highly developed country with charities such as the U.S. AID. The U.S. AID have helped since the 1950's. They have helped with indoor sprays, mosquito nets, treatment for pregnant women (helps to protect her against maternal anaemia, and to reduce the likelihood of a low birth weight.) and treatment with life saving drugs. This has helped millions of families to the risk of Malaria and will continue to help many more. Sportsmen David Beckham and Andy Murray are founding members of the Malaria No More UK Leadership Council, while Victoria Beckham wore the charity’s mosquito ring to raise funds helping to save lives in Africa.
In local areas, the Government of Nigeria can organise ways to fight off the disease and can discuss the issues with neighbouring countries. The neighbouring countries and Nigeria could also find out an effective way to reduce the amount of people being affected by Malaria. Vaccinations could be the futuristic way to fight Malaria as it isn't made yet and could help save millions of lives. MEDC's should invest their money towards Nigeria and its surrounding countries to support them. However, this may make Nigeria rely on the MEDC's and prevent them from being self-sufficient.
A solution to help reduce the amount of Malaria in the world can be vaccinations. Vaccines have not yet been introduced to fighting Malaria but with the right medical research and equipment, it could save millions of lives.
Even countries can use their local areas such as schools or at work can together help reduce Malaria, even if it is only small amounts of money at a time. Events such as cake sales and coffee mornings can help raise money and many people consider this idea when it comes to raising and donating moneY quickly and easily. BGS could help by doing these ideas and connect with a small area with Nigeria to help them by giving them mosquito nets or sprays to protect them from Mosquitos.
Section 4:
What solutions are the most and why?
One effective solution is educating the population of Nigeria to reduce stagnant water and better sanitation facilities as this is a big cause for Mosquito breeding. Another solution using insect repellent and nets as this helps massively with malaria as Mosquitos can't get to you. To get this, Nigeria need the supplies from other countries or the money to manufacture it or to get it. So charity organisations or schools can help as well.
How will the situation of Malaria cases change in 20 years and explain your reason why:
The optimistic visionary outcome is that in twenty years, Malaria would of become less of a problem because we would have more advanced technology and equipment in the future. And even if Nigeria didn't have access to it, (because they couldn't afford it and/or was still an LEDC) other countries could give them the money or the technology to fight this disease. Also the people of Nigeria would be more educated and aware of this disease and there would be more sanitation therefore less Mosquitos. Globally, there would be many scientists researching ways to prevent and eradicate Malaria too and they could invent a vaccination. However, there may be other international and national obstacles to fight on the path to the wiping out of this disease. For example, there is many countries suffering from conflict and that is resulting in refugee crisis to developed countries. This will impact the amount that countries can give in aid and for research. There is also natural disasters that cannot be prevented and are unpredictable. This may decrease the GNI of Nigeria.