Health & Wellbeing in S Africa
There are many issues concerning the health and well-being of South Africans. Two major problems are poverty and HIV/AIDS. These create problems as well such as lack of housing, spread of diseases, and high infant mortality rates. The infant mortality rate in South Africa was estimated to be sixty-four deaths per one thousand live births in 2003. (CIA 2003) One cause of the high infant mortality rate is malnutrition. In a country where about half of the population lives below the poverty line it is hard for pregnant mothers to get the proper nutrition to have a healthy baby. Even after birth, many mothers cannot afford to feed their babies and the babies die of starvation. The government implemented a program to try to give nutritional aid to mothers and their infants. However, the government only spends about 14% of their GDP on healthcare; this is not nearly enough. (Kesselman, et al. 2004) Another major cause of the infant mortality rate is HIV/AIDS. HIV/AIDS is the number one killer in Sou
These babies were born without a chance. While the living conditions in South Africa have somewhat improved, they still are not good enough. Another major problem that threatens the well-being of South Africans is poverty. Prepaid water meters were being placed in homes and South Africans are being charged to use water, a basic necessity. Many cannot afford water so, instead, they use and drink contaminated water from nearby streams. This will lead to a lot of squatting, people living off of the land of others. The government needs to do more than just educate the population on the problems they are facing. (Anti-Privitisation Forum 2003) This creates a burden to those who can barely afford mortgage, if they can afford it at all, and now they have to pay for water too. Usage of this contaminated water causes many people to become infected with cholera. They will be monitoring healthy, HIV-negative individuals for a period of twelve months to make sure that there are no significant side effects. In about eight to ten years, if the vaccine works, it will be registered for use. There were seventy-five cases of cholera, which resulted in three deaths. HIV/AIDS is also a major problem in South Africa.
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