Nursing Assignment

Q1. “Half the rural population in Mozambique has to walk for longer than 30 minutes to get water; only 5% of the rural population have access to piped water.”

Social, educational, and health implications

The lack of access to clean piped water by over half of rural populations in Mozambique presents a number of social problems that disable development agenda in these areas. Most prominent to these problems are gender issues where women and girls in the African context find themselves burdened with the search of water for their families. Gender imbalance in these areas is likely to be aggravated by social distribution of roles, where search of water becomes a major contributor. Alternatively, where water is a rare but a vital commodity becomes a feud resource among communities which lack a sharing platform. The need for survival tactics usually results in conflicts that may end up in ugly incidents of intercommunity disputes and wars.

In addition, education is affected by lack of adequate water among these communities since time consumed in the long distance walks in search of water compromises education time. The most affected are women and girls, which could contribute to poor performance among them even in careers. Men are also affected in some education respects, for instance in looking for water for their animals.

In terms of health, the little water that the communities find is usually contaminated bearing in mind that only 5 per cent of the population has safe piped water. The little clean water found is usually not sufficient for hygiene purposes whereby the remaining part of the population is exposed to related risks. Besides the lost time, it is difficult to concentrate in class if the students think so hard about the water hardship awaiting them at home.

Q2. “Of the 3 billion people who live in urban settings, about 1 billion live in slums. In Kenya, for example, 71% of the urban population lives in slums; in Ethiopia 99%. It takes only 10-20 years for the urban population to double in many African countries.”

What are the health implications of this?

Health issues arise when the housing resources are not adequate since they are usually coupled with issues of drainage, damping, communicable diseases and pollution related complications. In terms of drainage issues, it is not possible to ensure efficient systems in slums since shanty construction of houses and other structures is not expertly done. If construction rules were followed on drainage considerations that touch on health, the ground on which most of the slums appear would be a hindrance to their proliferation. Problems in the flow of liquid waste caused by flooding and blockages that cause exposure to dangerous water borne diseases are always evident in the slums. Stagnant waters in the slums become bleeding grounds for pests and disease vectors that expose the slum populations to diseases.

Damping is also among the worst health scares since the heaping of dirt presents a breeding ground for pathogenic organisms and pests as well. The stench emanating from the garbage also acts a health concern for air borne diseases. In addition, slums are generally crowded and the risk of spread of communicable diseases such as tuberculosis is more potent than in less populated areas. Lack of responsibility for communal cleanliness of the neighborhood may be caused by the high turnover of residents in and out of the slum. In view of the negligent nature of the slum life, there is high pollution also contributed by industries located in the urban areas. Health risks from chemical fumes, solid waste discharge into the drainage system, noise and damping are some of the pollution risks exposed to the slam dwellers.

Q3. “Around 126 million children aged 5-17 are working in hazardous conditions (UNICEF).”

What are the societal and health implications of this?

Apparently, societal implications of minors working in whichever conditions are far more serious than any other social problem facing the modern society. Children exposed to working conditions are forced to abandon their studies and the social impact generated by such early life complication is immeasurable at an age where education is directly related to quality of later life. Adolescent delinquency is likely to arise from among children exposed to hostile early childhood thereby causing a big problem to the society.

Since the hazardous environments that these children work in expose them to serious health complications, the social problems turn on their parents who find it difficult to find money to take care of their health care. In light of the scanty resources available for such poverty stricken areas, finding the appropriate healthcare for the specific complications is not only difficult but also not thought of. It therefore implies that certain causes of death from serious complications of exposure to the hazards are expensive among the poor.

Loss of young lives among the poor to such complications implies that the communities cannot be empowered since their future generation is threatened by lack of appropriate education as well as by diseases that are difficult to treat. Apparently, detoxification of the exposed children could be difficult to assist them to realize their life with ambition just like their normal counterparts elsewhere. The poverty stricken people find it difficult to balance the priorities in the scanty resources due to the problems that sprout from illiteracy which include delinquency, insecurity, disease and other social problems.

Q4. In the African region, coverage for old age income protection is lower than 10% of the labor force.”

What are the societal and health implications of this?

Societal problems occasioned by insufficient coverage of old age care and protection imply that the priorities of the productive population have to be readjusted to take care of the aged instead of the policy framework carrying out that role. Instead of the productive population contributing to their development and that of the country in terms of making undivided input, they find their resources catering for their old members of the family. Bearing in mind that the dependence rate is higher than ordinarily normal, it implies that the productive population always finds it difficult to cater for the needs of their own children and immediate dependants and have to put in more effort to cater for the extra burden of taking care of the aged. Inability to balance these dependants’ needs causes conflicts between the family members who place the responsibility of the aged in the hands of the young and productive population.

Lack of adequate coverage from the national system of care implies that there is high level of suffering among the aged due to health related complications while compared to the developed countries with a better system of healthcare coverage for the aged. Deaths among the poor aged people are painful and earlier than expected due to complications arising from being unattended. Some people may be forgiven to think that the poverty in Africa arises from the curses that the dying aged people leave on their incapable descendants for lack of concern. However, if a little more effort is invested in designing programs to cater for the aged while they are still young, it would ease the burden on the society.