The State of Health of Niger Citizens

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Introduction

Clans, societies, countries, continents, and the entire world have faced a lot of pressure and need of solving health problems and health-related issues. This problem has seen the world, continents, countries, societies, and clans loss their beloved ones because of the poor state of health and the emergence of new and incurable diseases. In this research paper, the country under study is Niger in of African continent. Africa in the early 1900s was a great threat to many due to malaria; malaria had claimed the lives of most of the foreign migrants before the discovery of its cure in the late years of 1900. Our discussions will cover the state of health of Niger citizens and their accessibility to health facilities.

Location

The Republic of Niger covers an area of 1,267,000 square kilometers with 300 square Meters covered by water. The Republic of Niger borders seven republics and has an entire perimeter of 5,697 kilometers. The Republic of Niger borders the Republic of Nigeria, Chad, Algeria, Mali, Burkina Faso, Benin, and Libya. The Niger River is the lowest point of Niger with a height of 656-feet and the highest point is Mount Idoukal in the Air Mountains with a height of 6,634-feet (Alagoa, 2005).

Population

In the year 2012, the total population of the Republic of Niger was 15,203,822. This population constitutes 0.21 % of the total worlds population with a human count of 11 people for every square kilometer. A large amount of the Niger populations source of the lively hood is agriculture and cattle breeding. The rest of Nigers population comprises semi-nomadic and nomadic livestock raising people such as Fulani, Tuareg, Arabs, Kanuri, and Toubou. Rapid growth in the population of the Republic of Niger has resulted in unhealthy competition for scanty natural resources; this has led to communities conflicts in the past years over the scanty resources (Alagoa, 2005).

Government

The Nigers Republic governmental system assumes the responsibility of ensuring that proper governance mechanisms are utilized since the enactment of the constitution18th July 1999. The presidential systems that are applied in the country must get used to the country being led by the president, how happens to their caretaker. Delegate democratic procedure is practiced in electing the president and the prime minister in both national and local elections; aspirants vying for the position of the president and the prime minister use the system of opposing multi-party system during their campaigns. It is true that the judiciary does not depend on the legislature and the executive especially when the section is concerned with issues related to the citizens of the country.

Professional Administration Agents carry out central governance under the supervision of the President Office or the Ministries led by the members of the parliament; members of the parliament are appointed to their position by the President. Non-political administrators head the rest of the offices in the government (Alagoa, 2005).

Economy

The nation is among the poor nations in Africa; the financial system depends mainly on farm animals, subsistence agriculture and uranium mining (Llc Books, 2010). Desertification, drought cycles, a population growth rate of 3.3%, and the reduction in the global requirements of uranium have reduced the performance of the countrys economy, even though it was not performing very well. Formal employments arise from the traditional informal markets, small trading, herding, seasonal migration, and subsistence farming. Nigers GDP in the year 2003 was $ 2.8 billion, the annual growth rate was 3 %, per capita GDP was $ 232 million, the average inflation rate was 2.69 %, budgeted income was $ 370 million and total expenditure was $ 370 million.

In the economy of Niger, only 14% of the productivity of the country is obtained from living animals that include goats and camels among other animals yet this amount of output supports the countrys population at 29% significance. In Nigers exports trade, the most foreign exchange income contributor is uranium mining followed by livestock rearing. Some animal skins and hides are exported into various countries, and the surpluses are used for handicrafts by the local societies and companies (Llc Books, 2010).

State of Health

Several factors determine the state of health in Niger, these factors include Income and Social Status: The higher the income and social hierarchy the higher the state of health of an individual and vice versa. Social Support Networks: This is the support given to an individual by his or her friends, families, and communities. Education and Literacy: High levels of education and literacy levels call for improved health standards and vice versa. Working Conditions: Unemployment and stressful employment are associated with poor health conditions because the individuals cannot afford quality health services.

Social Environments: This includes the beliefs of a certain community, some communities believe in the traditional medications, which contribute to the poor state of their health. Physical Environments: Physical factors comprise the natural environment, which is a key influence on the state of health in society. Individual Health Practices and Coping Skills: these are those measures that individuals can take to prevent diseases and make choices, develop self-reliance and improve self-care that enhances health (Hager, 2000).

There are several health parameters that indicate the state of health in a country or continent; the following indicators determine Nigers state of health: Morbidity Status tests the health-related value of life such as poor health, self-rated health status, obesity body mass, and weight, diabetes, asthma, and other chronic and related diseases. Health Behavior indicators are reduced or no smoking, regular exercising activities, diet, and food, little or no drinking, and reduced, or no use of drugs. Access to Health indicators includes care insurance coverage, regular health care, hospitalizations, and receipt of preventive services.

The physical environment includes parameters like area-based measures, that is, income, and poverty, the density of the population, public system access and housing. The social environment comprises factors like income, education, and social support. Child and family indicator is composed of factors like parental achievements and parent practices (Skolnik, 2012).

Niger is a country burdened by several diseases and the diseases affecting the African continent affect Niger as well. The government uses DALYs to analyze its disease burden; DALYs are Disability-Adjusted Life Years and its calculation involves adding together the number of years of life lost due to mortality and the equivalent years of healthy life lost due to disability (Lopez et al., 2008).

Leading causes of DALYs in Niger include as of 2008.

Total DALYs %
HIV/AIDS 17.8
Malaria 10.3
Lower respiratory infections 8.4
Prenatal condition 6.3
Diarrhea diseases 6.1
Measles 4.6
Tuberculosis 2.4
Whooping cough 1.9
Road traffic accidents 1.8
Protein energy malnutrition 1.6

Traditional Medicine

The Republic of Niger holds different cultures, which have different beliefs and practices; the pastoralists behave differently from the farmers and hold different approaches to cultural issues. Small conservative communities in Niger use traditional medicine despite the governments efforts in establishing primary healthcare systems; this is caused by the high rate of poverty and low literacy levels among the citizens who lack confidence in the advanced modern medical services offered in public hospitals. The use of traditional medicine in society is also influenced by the poor accessibility of the healthcare facilities because of the infrastructure such as roads (Alagoa, 2005).

Healthcare System and Delivery

The Republic of Niger has created a ministry of public health; this ministry has created an extensive network of public healthcare centers to offer healthcare services to citizens over the country. The country has numerous non-governmental organizations both local and international established to offer solutions to the government on the arising diseases, giving advice and treating the local communities. Examples of these organizations are the World Health Organization, Health, and Social service initiative, Foundation for promotion of good health, Family health care services among others (Fiona & McKee, 2011).

Health Priorities

Leading Causes of mortality and burden of diseases

Mortality Total deaths (%) DALYs Total DALYs (%)
Child birth 13.2 Child birth 13.2
Diarrhea 11.1 Diarrhea 9.7
HIV/AIDS 9.5 HIV/AIDS 8.3

The Republic of Niger has prioritized several health issues to save its population; these health priorities include HIV/ AIDS epidemic, maternal and child health, and diarrhea. The mortality rate for babies under the age of 5 years is 253 per 1000 live births. The country is losing a big number of its citizen from these health epidemics, in maternal and child health, the use of midwives in childbirth is leading to a big number of women deaths because of delivery complications. On the other hand, a great number of infants are dying due to a lack of specialized medical care. HIV/AIDS infection rate between the years of 15 to 46 is 5% (Hotez & Kamath, 2009).

With limited access and negligence of information, HIV/AIDS infections and deaths have grown rapidly. HIV/AIDS epidemic poses a great risk in the survival of Nigers; most of the native communities treat the epidemic as an evil that should not be spoken in the public and hence the affected individuals fear not seek for medical help. A diarrhea death per year in Niger is 40,300, DALYs rate/1000 per capita per year is 102 making it a health priority in Niger (Hotez & Kamath, 2009).

Nursing Implications

Nursing has a distinct role as compared to the other health care providers; this is because of their scope of practice, training, and approach to patient concern. With these distinct characteristics and additional training, employment and provision of a good working environment will help in addressing nurses will be in the best position to handle HIV/AIDS victims, diarrhea cases and childbirth. Nurses and nursing in Niger are at a great challenge due to poor workforce supply, retention and migration management, poor motivation of nurses, and poor governance. It is approximated that 100 nurses migrated to overseas countries in the year 2010 to seek better pay and a working environment. The net pay for nurses in Niger is $ 175 per month. Most of the nurses are migrating to U.S.A, U.K, and Canada among other countries where they believe a nursing career is better remunerated (Hotez & Kamath, 2009).

To conclude, a country needs to keep a sober state of health of its citizen in order for it to grow a healthy economy and nation. The Republic of Niger should address the level of literacy level in the country to improve its rating as one of the poorest states in the world. Finally, nursing is an important field of study as well as an important role played in the medical field, through nursing the above health care issues can easily be addressed. The government of Niger should increase the number of nurses deployed in the regional hospitals, this will increase the efficiency in delivering services to the native communities and hence improve the status of health care in the country.

References

Alagoa, E. (2005). A history of the Niger Delta. Niger: Oyoma Research Publication.

Fiona, S. & McKee, M. (2011). Understanding Public Health: Issue in Public Health. Hoboken, NJ: McGraw-Hill.

Hager, L. (2000). Niger Public Health Notes. Niger: Niger Peace Corps.

Hotez, P. & Kamath, A. (2009). Neglected Tropical Diseases in Sub-Saharan Africa: Review of Their Prevalence, Distribution, and Disease Burden. Neglected Trophical Diseases, 3(8), 1-59.

Llc Books. (2010). Economy of Niger. Niger: General Books LLC.

Lopez, A. et al. (2008). Regional burden of diseases. Disease control priorities, 1(2), 1-53.

Skolnik, R. (2012). Global Health 101. (2 ed.). Washington D.C.: Jones & Barlett Learning. Print.

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