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  • Title: [So much to do for the children of Africa].
    Author: Bargaoui K.
    Journal: Jeune Afr; ; (1389-1390):84-5. PubMed ID: 12281006.
    Abstract:
    Despite progress in child health in countries of North Africa, the status of child health in all other parts of Africa is grave. High rates of fertility averaging 50/1000 (compared to 12/1000 in Europe), infant mortality rates of 125/1000 except in Morocco, Tunisia, and a few large sub-Saharan cities, and life expectancies of 40-50 years are indicative of serious problems in providing health services. Public health expenditures in Africa average US $2 per capita, compared to $244 in developed countries. Rates of literacy, an indispensable tool in the fight for health, range from 15% for man and 3% for women in Burkina Faso to 74% for men and 37% for women in Zaire. Epidemiologic data are lacking and surveys are costly, but some problems such as the great frequency of nutritional deficiency diseases and contagious illness resulting from poor hygiene are obvious. Infections contracted by children aged 1-5 years are often avoidable. Urbanization and changing life styles cause new problems such as domestic or traffic accidents and pathologies of adolescents. Health personnel and infrastructure are insufficient in all African countries. The ratio of physicians to population ranges from 1/10-20,000, at least double the ratio of 1/5000 recommended by the World Health Organization. Hospitals and health centers are poorly distributed, and rural areas often totally lack facilities. Seminars on child health services were held in 13 African countries for officials of all involved sectors prior to a July 1987 meeting in Montreal on the occasion of the Annual Congress of the Society of French speaking pediatricians. 2 essential points emerged from the profiles presented by each national delegation, the need for programs adapted to local problems that would give results quickly, and the need to train health workers and provide health education to the population. Priority should be given to prevention through good hygienic conditions, proper nutrition, and environmental sanitation, as well as individual and family health. Strategies for health action must be developed, with a focus on prevention and family planning, adaptation of traditional medicine, and better training of health manpower. Health programs should be integrated into primary health care programs, which to have maximal impact, should be integrated into broader socioeconomic development programs. Regional strategies can be elaborated by countries with similar problems.
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