Africa - Standard of Living

Low Standards of Living in Africa

​SS7CG2a

• I can describe how government instability impacts access to education and the distribution of medicine and food to combat diseases and famine across Africa.

​Low Standards of Living in Africa

• Many people in Africa suffer from a low standard of living, especially in sub-Saharan nations

  • poverty is widespread

  • people do not have adequate food, water, clothing, or shelter

• There are many problems that affect people's quality of life

  • limited access to education

  • lack of medicine

  • threat of famine, or not enough food

• Many governments are still dealing with affects of European colonization

Unstable Governments in Africa

• Government instability is one major issue preventing African nations from imrpoving their citizens' quality of life

• In part of Africa, power has changed hands many times through civil war, revolutions, and military coups

• When a country's government is unstable, it can't meet the needs of its people

Access to Education

• Education is a human right & more highly educated countries are better able to resolve conflicts and prevent civil war

• Many sub-Saharan African nations have the highest rates of illiteracy in the world

  • especially in rural areas and poor urban communities

• Factors that limit access to education:

  • shortage of teachers & school buildings

  • money - even if school is free, families still have to pay for transportation & school supplies

    • families are often too poor to send all their children to school & need some to help out at home

​**Children from poor urban households are less likely to receive an education than children from rich urban households.

Access to Education

• One problem many African nations face is the lack of education for women

  • far more men are educated & literate than women

• Why is there this gap?

  • African societies do not value education for girls as highly as education for boys

  • Girls are expected to learn to cook & clean to prepare them from marriage

• Fewer African women can read & write than men, which makes it harder for women to own a business or work in government

Categorize

Options (5)

There is limited access to education in many African nations.

There is equal access to education across Africa.

Women in Africa tend to have lower literacy rates than men.

Children in rural areas of Africa are more likely to attend school than city children.

Civil wars in Africa have negatively impacted access to education.

Read the statements and decide if they are true or false.

True

False

Disease Outbreaks in Africa

• Without stable governments, many African nations have struggled to establish proper healthcare for citizens

  • not enough hospitals, not enough doctors, not enough supplies

• In the past, some African governments have not been effective at distributing medicine in emergency situations

  • this can cause outbreaks to turn into deadly epidemics

• Common epidemics in Africa:

  • HIV/AIDS

  • Malaria

  • Tuberculosis

Malaria

• caused by a parasite that is spread through infected mosquitoes

• has existed more than 2.5 million years

• infects millions of people around the world every year

  • 70% of malaria-related deaths are in Africa

  • sub-Saharan Africa is the most susceptible

• Nations around the world have worked to fight malaria through medicine, insecticides, and insecticide-treated bed nets.

  • These global efforts have reduced the numbers of malaria deaths in sub-Saharan Africa; however, none of the efforts succeeded at eliminating malaria.

• Today, one of the biggest public health projects is a search for an effective malaria vaccine.

HIV/AIDS

• HIV is the virus that causes AIDS

• AIDS is a global concern, but the number of people infected is especially high in Africa

  • In 2022, around 70% of people living with HIV were in Africa & around 630,000 people died, mostly in Africa

• More than 75% of new HIV infections are in young people between the ages of 15 and 24

  • Girls & women are 3 times more likely to contract HIV than males

HIV/AIDS

• Political instability is partly responsible for the prevelance of AIDS

  • The rise of AIDS did not receive the necessary attention or resources to stop it from coming an epidemic

  • African governments did not teach citizens how to prevent the spread of it

  • Poor health systems left people with HIV susceptible to other diseases, such as tuberculosis

  • Poor women & girls in poor communities have less access to education and treatment

• Education and new treatment methods have reduced AIDS-related illnesses and deaths, but many African countries don't have the resources to identify people with the virus or gve them the medicine to treat it

Tuberculosis

• a bacterial illness that primarily affects the lungs & is spread through the air through sneezing, coughing, talking, singing, etc.

• People with AIDS are particularly at risk of contracting tuberculosis

• Antibiotics are the primary treatment, but some form of tuberculosis have become resistant to antibiotics

• There were 7.5 million new tuberculosis diagnosis around the world in 2022

  • about 23% were in Africa

• Main reasons for high numbers of tuberculosis in Africa:

  • limited & overburdened healthcare systems

  • lack of ability to afford preventative care

  • inadequate nutrition

Multiple Choice

True or False: The number of people infected with diseases is higher in Africa.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

True or False: Women and girls have more access to education and healthcare than men and boys.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

True or False: The lack of government response and access to healthcare are contributing factors to the high rate of infected people.

• True

• False

Famine in Africa

• extreme scarcity of food

• Caused by:

  • Government Instability & Corruption

    • governments have failed to provide support to their citizens & have even chosen to build armies or used food as a political weapon

  • Climate Change

    • droughts (very little or no rainfall) & floods make it hard to grow food

  • Civil Wars

    • not as many people able to farm, soldiers destroy crops & these wars caused people to have to move

  • Covid-19 - sick people were not able to work & made food shortages worse

Multiple Choice

True or False: The people of Africa have plenty of food and do not have to worry not having enough food, or a famine.

• True

• False

Open Ended

What is one thing you learned about Africa today?