On The Road to Recovery
When Sarah, a 48 year old woman living in the Gauteng region of South Africa, had a stroke, there was nowhere for her to go. The nearest clinic was many kilometers away, but against all odds Sarah’s family managed to get her there. However, this attempt was fruitless due to a severe lack of prescription drugs, which are almost impossible to afford anyways. Sarah’s family, now desperate, take her to a hospital, only to be kicked out and told to go to the clinic that had already informed them that there was nothing that they could do(Gaede, Versteeg). Stories like Sarah’s are not the exception. South African citizens living in rural regions of the nation all suffer because of the current state of the public health care system. 80% of South Africa’s population rely on this health care system(Taylor), and for many, the outcome is not favorable. Due to the lack of doctors and medication, many citizens lose their lives to curable diseases. The World Health Organization recommends that there are supposed to be about 2.28 health care workers per every 1,000 people in a population. South Africa’s ratio is far below the recommended number, at about .29 doctors and 1.35 nurses per 1,000 people in the population.(du Toit, Versteeg, Couper). If this is related to the entire population of South Africa, there should be about 120,795 health care workers in the system. With a combined total of 86,887 workers currently in the system, South Africa only has two thirds of the recommended health care worker count, which can only negatively affect the citizens who have no choice but to rely on the public health care system.The public health care system officials are not always fit for their jobs, which can be detrimental to a patient. Citizens in rural South African regions identified this as a key issue that needs to be solved in order to improve the health care system(du Toit, Versteeg, Couper). The people assigned to these roles are responsible for planning when to order medication, hiring doctors, and much more. When these people are not completely qualified to do their jobs, the population is left to suffer the effects. One nurse states the extent of the issue when she recalls, “We’ve run out of [Tuberculosis] treatment; we’ve run out of antibiotics. It’s happened that we were down to one or two IV (intravenous) antibiotics, which is ridiculous”(Taylor). Without the proper tools, it is impossible to administer aid to a patient. Therefore, many patients die from diseases that have cures. Despite the recent issues with the system, various foundations, such as the Uthombo Youth Development Foundation, have dedicated themselves to narrowing the gap of deficit of health care workers for the public(Atlantic Philanthropies). With this increase in health care workers, many people living in South Africa have a better chance at getting the cures that they need. Citizens like Sarah are hopeful that an improved health care system in the future can provide better treatment, but only time will tell if South Africa is really on the road to recovery.
Works Cited
"Bringing Health Care Services to Rural South Africa." Atlantic Philanthropies. Umthombo Youth Development Foundation, 1 June 2012. Web. 07 Mar. 2016.
Du Toit, Lilo, Marije Versteeg, and Ian Couper. "Abstract." Building Consensus on Key Priorities for Rural Health Care in South Africa Using the Delphi Technique. 2013. Web. 08 Mar. 2016.
Gaede, Bernhard, and Marije Versteeg. "The State of the Right to Health in Rural South Africa." University of Witwatersand, 2011. Web. 7 Mar. 2016.
Taylor, Darren. "Inside South Africa's Rural Healthcare Crisis." VOA. Web. 04 Mar. 2016.
I really liked how you linked your title to the very end of your article, and how the whole article in general flowed together very well. There were no awkward changes in topic or shifts and it was written nicely. My main takeaway after reading this article is that several people die in Africa pointlessly because of Africa's poor health care. I was wondering if you knew any brief estimate on the number of people effected by this issue, or the number of people who die because of this?
ReplyDeleteI really like the way that your title connects to your article, and how Sarah's story is something consistent all throughout your paper. The lack of health care in Africa causes many deaths, due to them not having the resources that they need. Do you think that there is a possibility for Africa to recover from the amount of loses they've suffered due to the lack of health care?
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