African Health

Photo © The Julia Project Foundation
African boy at IFO Refugee Camp, Dadaab, Kenya

The lack of health care funding and a shortage of trained workers contribute to the current health crisis in Kenya, Africa, where the average life expectancy is only 56 years. The HIV/AIDS pandemic continues to afflict both the adults and the children in Kenya, having infected a large percentage of the population.

First Hand Experience

We experienced first hand the lack of good health care in Africa and how this impacts both the children and their families.

Many of the children I taught at Rukia's school were AIDS orphaned African children. I couldn't help but wonder how many of these little ones will face their own struggle with this dreaded disease down the road. HIV/AIDS is the most significant African health issue needing to be addressed in the continent.

Like most developing nations challenged by poverty, the people we encountered while in Garissa, Kenya, and the surrounding outlying areas, face the daily struggle to find food and clean water. Their poor diet contributes to abnormal development, which is especially threatening to most African children. Poor health care in Africa means lack of medicines and so basic pain relief from fever and wounds simply isn't available. This affects the children's daily living and their focus at school. How easy it is for us to get relief whenever we go to the cabinet and reach for a tablet.

Medicines Not Available

Tuberculosis, a common secondary affliction from HIV/AIDS, and lack of protein are two more issues needing to be addressed. Basic medicines for the treatment of HIV/AIDS opportunistic infections are not readily available to most.

We also learned that outbreaks of Malaria are part of the routine African health issues of daily life. This is especially so in the outlying areas where the mosquito population thrives. Nets can seldom be found. At the beginning of our African adventure, Jim and I found it so strange to sleep under a mosquito net. When we learned how valuable they were to our protection, we were more than thankful to have had them at all of the accommodations we slept at.

Of course, their poor diet also makes them more susceptible to viruses and infections. While vitamins would give mothers the chance to nourish their babies better and for the children to grow normally, most simply cannot find or cannot afford the medicine and vitamins they so desperately need. Often, they die because the medicine in not available.

How We Can Help

While it was heart wrenching to see, it was empowering to know that with basic interventions, we can provide so much to improve health care in Africa.

Jim and I carried two physician travel packs from Health Partners International of Canada. One of our project objectives is to take these much needed medicines with us on each travel experience.

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