The Three most Common Diseases in Ethiopia: Pneumonia, HIV/AIDS, and Malaria

Ethiopia is a country that is very populated in Africa that struggles with income. This country is part of a land group called the Horn of Africa. It is “a peninsula in the East African region, that protrudes from the eastern edge of the continent of Africa. It lies South of the Gulf of Aden and Southwest to the Red Sea” (Maps of World). Trade is something that this peninsula takes advantage of by exporting products that other parts of the world may want in order to make money. This country is surrounded by land, but there is still an abundant water supply throughout some parts of Ethiopia. There are a few different things that this country ships like coffee, vegetables, animals, electrical machinery and footwear (World’s Top Exports). These exports make Ethiopia have a higher income than other countries in Africa. Although there is money coming into the country, Ethiopia is still considered a low-income country because 24% of the people living there are below the poverty line. Ethiopia also happens to be the second most populated in Africa, so there are a lot of things this country needs to have in order for all of the citizens to have a good immune system. There are some fairly healthy people living within the borders, but this is not quite as good as it may seem. While there is a high amount of healthy citizens for such a low-income country, there are still plenty of health conditions that are present today. Even with the increase in overall health among the population, health risks are still highly present. The three main health concerns that affect Ethiopia today are pneumonia, HIV/AIDS, and malaria. Although there are some organizations to help with the health concerns, they are still very common and improving the prevention rate from increasing is important with the overall health of the country.

Most diseases that are contracted in third-world countries could have easily been prevented with good healthcare, money, and the right supplies. Pneumonia no different. According to Mayo Clinic, pneumonia is a disease that fills a person’s lungs with liquid and as a result makes it difficult to breath; chest pain is present along with coughing up the fluid in the lungs. Pneumonia is not very common in high-income countries because treatment is very expensive and recovery is usually very fast. Poverty is the main reason this disease is as such a high rate with the cost of strong vaccines being very high. According to UNICEF pneumonia mostly affects children under five, “accounting for 15 per cent (sic) of deaths, or approximately 940,000 children per year – but deaths from the disease have declined by 44 per cent (sic) since 2000.” Although the decline of pneumonia has gone down almost half, there is still a huge amount of deaths with children. With an underdeveloped healthcare system in Ethiopia that is not able to fully support the whole country. There have bepneen some improvements with how many people can be treated, but with half the country below the poverty line, finding affordable health care is difficult for most. There are organizations like Human Extension Workers or HEW who offer free healthcare to people who need basic things like “emergency services, inpatient hospitals and physician care” (US Legal). “As of 2015 there were more than 38,000 HEWs like Ms. Muluemebet working in over 16,000 health posts across the country. Each health post serves around 5,000 people, meaning the vast majority of Ethiopia’s population of 99 million are within reach of free, basic health care.” Having posts that offer free healthcare is an important step to take in order to help people. With the huge amount of people to care for, there are some issues with preventing these diseases again. The access for this kind of healthcare is more manageable than having to go to a hospital because it’s free, and they are spread out.

While pneumonia is a common problem, there is also another big health issue that’s not just specific to Ethiopia; HIV and AIDS is also a major health concern. AIDS is common all throughout the world, but is especially found in third world countries like Ethiopia.

The last health concern that is most prevalent in Ethiopia is malaria. Malaria is transferred by mosquitoes to humans or other animals. The symptoms include an enlarged liver, reduced red blood cells, fever and an enlarged spleen.

Cite this page