POOR HEALTHCARE IMPACT ON KIDS

THE IMPACT OF POOR HEALTHCARE IN RURAL AFRICA TO KIDS.

Malnutrition and poor development in early life is a significant contributing factor to life-threatening illnesses among children. Every aspect of a child’s health needs to be frequently checked to keep them safe – their muscle and bone development. Their cardiac and respiratory health, their teeth and gums, and any other concerns that may arise. Children in the Western world are given health checks from the moment of their birth, but in the case of most African Children Especially in Ghana, they mostly miss out.

During the rainy season, hospitals are filled with children and elderly suffering from malaria and water-borne diseases due to polluted drinking water in their villages.  Life-saving anti-malaria drugs such as quinine rapidly fall into short supply, and doctors have to be locked within the line in choosing which patients to treat and who not to. Children end up losing their lives from illnesses that could be treated and this is a result of the existing and rising nature of poverty. Without access to anti-retroviral drugs, HIV-positive children are at risk from minor illnesses and affections.

Children in remote and rural areas are impacted most, as clinics are often miles from their villages and cannot be accessed easily. Rural clinics also run out of supplies, preventing them from giving local children and their care givers much-needed check-ups. Rural clinics, or “bush hospitals”, are frequently missing even the most basic equipment such as stethoscopes and blood pressure monitors. Without the tools to provide the community, hundreds of children Live in danger