Standard of Living in Africa SS7CG3 Students will analyze how politics in Africa impacts the standard of living.

Education in Africa The country of Kenya currently has a national literacy rate of about 85%. The Kenyan government has made improving education a priority. They have started a number of government programs for building schools and eliminating fees for children who want to go to school. About 85% of Kenya’s school-age children attend elementary school. They number drops to 24% for high school and only 2% for college. The Ministry of Education is trying to keep more children in school by offering vocational and technical education.

Unfortunately, the Kenyan literacy rate of 85% does not show the gap that exists between boys and girls in Kenya. The literacy rate for boys is about 91%, while for girls it is only 79%. Literacy and school attendance are much higher for boys and girls in cities. The attendance rate drops for all children living in rural areas. However, for girls the numbers are much worse than for boys. Teachers still have to work to get many rural families to see the importance of education for girls. The traditional view is that boys need education to get better jobs. Girls only need to prepare for marriage. Early marriages are very common in rural parts of the country, and a marriage brings a dowry to the bride’s family. A dowry is money or gifts the groom and his family gives to the bride and her parents as a wedding present.

Sudan Sudan has not made quite the progress in education that one sees in Kenya. Sudan has been involved in a civil war for most of its independence that just ended a few years ago. As that war ended the genocide in Darfur began. Sudan has a national literacy rate of about 61%, and a wide gap in the literacy of boys and girls. Sudan’s boys have a literacy rate of about 72%, while girls have only 50%. The military conflict in the countryside has left many schools in ruins while children living in the cities have the best chance to get an education. Educational reform was introduced in the 1990s, but emphasis was placed mainly in expanding the religious education of the students.

Sudanese girls face many of the same problems as girls throughout Africa who live in rural or traditional communities. Many parents are concerned that allowing girls to go to public schools will result in their learning bad behavior. They also feel if there is money to spend on education, it should go to their sons who will have to be able to earn a living. Daughters are often seen as needing only to prepare for marriage. A married daughter means wealth for both families, dowry money for the bride’s family and a new house hold worker for the family of the groom. Many girls who are allowed to go to school are sent to religious schools where they mainly study the Quran.

Country Total Literacy Rate Literacy of Males Literacy of Females GDP- Gross Domestic, per capita Burkina Faso 21%21.8%15%$1,300 Congo 67%80.9%54.1%$300 Egypt 71.4%83%59.45%$5,500 Ghana 51.9%66.4%49.8%$1,400 Kenya 85.1%90.6%79.7%$1,700 South Africa 86.4%87%85%$9,800 Sudan 61.1%71.8%50.5%$2,200 United States 99% $45,800

 Famine, AIDS, and malaria are among Africa’s biggest health problems.  Africa is a large continent with many countries and 800 million people.  It is also the poorest continent in the world.

 Africa had many natural resources before European colonization.  Today, however, there is widespread poverty throughout Africa.  Many health problems are caused or made worse by poverty.  Poverty creates poor living conditions, such as lack of clean water or food.  People living in poor conditions often get sick.  They may live in crowded areas that are dirty.  They may not have doctors or medicine.  People living in poverty may not have the education to know how to stop the spread of disease.

 Famine occurs when a region does not have enough food for a long period of time.  People who are starving can die from malnutrition.  Famines are both human-made and natural.  Drought, or lack of rain, makes food scarce because crops die.  Human forces, like wars, can also cause food shortages.  People in a region can be without food because its cost is too high.  All of these factors have led to famines in Africa.

 Famines in Africa today are the result of poor food distribution and poverty.  There is enough food on Earth for everyone to eat well.  However, many people live where they cannot grow food.  People also live where food cannot be easily transported.

 Many famines have taken place in the Horn of Africa  The Horn of Africa is a large peninsula in the northeast region of the continent.  Famines in this region include the Ethiopian Famine of the mid-1980s, which is estimated to have killed over one million people.  This famine was made worse by high food prices and overpopulation.  Today, Niger, southern Sudan, Somalia, and Zimbabwe are areas with emergency famine status.  Africa’s greatest humanitarian crisis is in Darfur, in western Sudan.  A humanitarian crisis is one in which many human lives are at risk in a region.

 Malaria is a tropical disease spread by mosquitoes.  Each year, more than one million people die from malaria.  Children in Sub-Saharan Africa are most at risk of death from the disease.  For instance, malaria is the leading cause of death in children under five in Uganda.  There is no vaccine against malaria.  However, there are ways to reduce the spread of the disease.  Insecticides and mosquito nets can drastically lower the number of infections.  Anti-malaria drugs can also help, but they are very expensive

 Unfortunately, many of the regions where the risk of malaria is highest are also poor.  People in these areas cannot afford to buy mosquito nets or insecticides to kill mosquitoes.  According to the World Health Organization, malaria is a disease that is caused by poverty, and it’s a disease that also can lead to poverty.

 The spread of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) due to infection by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is the most severe health crisis in the world.  It is considered a pandemic, a widespread epidemic.  HIV/AIDS attacks and destroys the body’s power to fight illness.  HIV/AIDS is spread through bodily fluids.  Africa has the highest rates of HIV infection in the world.  Seventeen million people have died from AIDS on the continent.  Over two-thirds of all HIV infections in the world are in Africa.  One-third of all AIDS deaths in the world in 2005 occurred in Africa.

 AIDS/HIV is a major threat to the people of Africa.  The spread of AIDS lowers the life expectancy of entire populations.  Life expectancy is a measure of how long people expect to live.  Over 12 million African children have been orphaned by AIDS.  There are drugs that slow down the progress of HIV infection to AIDS.  However, there is no cure for AIDS.  Education and prevention are the most important tools for fighting AIDS.  Africa needs more money to pay foror education and prevention programs.

 Heath issues in Africa are made worse by unstable politics.  In turn, unstable politics contribute to poverty. High death rates due to health crises weaken economies.  In this way, the issues of heath, economics, and politics are intertwined.