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According to the World Health Organization, 1.37 million adults and 140,000 kids have been killed in the past year and it has infected more than 1 million kids due to Tuberculosis. According to the U.S. researchers, around 32,000 kids catch Tuberculosis every year. The TB Alliance campaign group mentioned that the lack of market agenda has hurt the development of drugs to cure children. Tuberculosis is usually caught with bacteria and could be spread through sneezing and coughing. More individuals die from Tuberculosis than individuals die from AIDS/HIV. Although many times tuberculosis occurs mostly in southeast Asia, Africa has the biggest proportion for its population and has the highest rate of 400,000 brand new cases every year. Since they come up with fruit flavored drugs, they believe that this will reduce the risks and kids are more likely to survive tuberculosis in the coming year. A lot of the times kids don’t end up taking all the medicine every day for six months because of the bitterness and the pills are too large for young kids to take that they would have to cut them in half for easier to take. When the treatments are not completed then they would have to restart from the beginning because they would fall sick again. This new treatment will be a syrup that will be easier to take and taste better and essentially easier for the parents to make sure the kid will continually follow and finish the treatment. Link

Questions for Final:

1. What were some ideological commitment to modernization? 
2. What were some pros and cons to colonization?
3. What were the different impacts of colonization in Africa from the British, French and Portuguese?
4. How did the Africans feel about colonization? 

Many parts of Africa are going through lots of water shortages, extreme storms, floods and droughts and they call it “El Nino.” El Nino has caused droughts in numerous areas in Africa and it started due to the temperatures of the rise in sea surface in the equatorial Pacific. Ethiopia has been affected by it the most and they have been suffering from it for about thirty years now. “Ethiopia has a population of 90 million of which eight million need food aid. That figure could rise to 15 million by early 2016, the United Nations says, has failed rains during both the spring and summer have created food and water shortages. Their government said that due to food shortage, they would start distributing 222,000 tons of wheat and that they would need around $600 million to deal with the crisis according to the aid agencies. Because of the droughts in South Africa, more than a third of animals were being butchered and before the farmers died they would auction their stocks. “WMO Secretary General Michel Jarrud warned that this latest naturally occurring El Nino and human induced climate change may interact and modify each other in ways we have never been experienced before. “El Nino is turning up the heat even further,” he said in a referance to increase in global surface temperatures. ” Towards the end of November the goal is to have UN climate talks in France because this humanitarian crisis is creating a weather pattern. Link.

Ethiopia created a three digit dial number, 952, for individuals to talk to about health or situations that are difficult to share with close ones such as friends or family. In 2004, the talkline of Wegen AIDS were trying to make is easier for individuals to talk about AIDS and HIV a lot more openly, professional counselling, and getting information in general and all of this could be done just by dialing a three digit number, 952 from any type of phone. A team leader from the Health Information Center, Melaku Abebe says, “”It was very hard to talk about your blood status and ask for information about HIV and AIDS back then. The major reason is crystal clear: it was stigma and discrimination. People were terrified to talk about their blood status with anyone, fearing that they might be labelled and judged.”This also helps the gap between the rural and urban areas. Through this talkline, people can call from any part of the country and this service is usually given by 28 counsellors who have sociology, healthy and psychology backgrounds.  Around 8 million people have been using this service and have approximately 6,000 calls in a day. I feel like this service has made a huge difference because having a stigma in a culture where it is difficult to talk about health or sex or anything really in public or with close ones is difficult sometimes so having this hotline has really helped the people in Ethiopia and it has also helped prevent individuals from suicides. Link.

In Africa, several women die during delivery and pregnancy each year. The cause of death is because of uterine rupture and postpartum hemorrhage. The causes of death is more fundamental than this such as lack of health care. Many of the mothers and children tend to die because they don’t have the necessary equipments to help prevent these health problems. They would have survived if the communities where more wealthy, had more doctors, resources and hospitals. “According to UNICEF and the World Health Organization, 800 women worldwide die each day of preventable complications related to pregnancy and delivery. And every day, 7,400 newborns die, most also from avoidable causes.” But on a positive note, the maternal mortality and newborn deaths have been declined significantly due to global efforts. Since 1990, the maternal mortality rate has decreased by 75% in Rwanda and several other counties as well like Liberia, Malawi, Niger and Tanzania. The United Nations have set Sustainable Development Goals to eliminate poverty working towards a healthy planet, such as reducing newborn and maternal deaths. Little things like, having nutritious food, vital medicines for before, during and after delivery, increasing in funding, keeping a new born’s umbilical cord wound clean, exclusive breast feeding and etc and educating of basic delivery should help in reducing the deaths of mothers and babies in Africa. Link.

A 20 year old boy who was studying BA in nursing dropped out of Unisa within six months in because of financial hardships. His father passed away five years ago and his mother is not employed, he lives with seven nephews and nieces and three siblings in a two bedroom house in KwaMashu. This boy is changing his community by using his own money to travel and teach younger kids to do well and to do better in school. Although he wants to eventually help people in the medical field and go to medical school, this is what he is doing in his pass time. He started teaching eighth graders with with homework and then led up to teaching 12th grade math. Khumalo made what he was doing into a non-profit organization and has hope that it will change his community in a positive direction. He says, “I am doing this for free because I am passionate about youth development. I am hoping that other people will join in and help me make a difference in my community.” He has always received good grades growing up and wants that for every kid in his community. Not to mention, he is also doing all of this for free. Link

I usually always hear about how endangered animals are getting more and more extinct and wondered how do we stop this? I cam across this article where they had marches to raise awareness about these situations. Recently in Botswana, individuals are taking Global Marches for endangered animals to raise awareness for preventing illegal trade and poaching of elephants, rhinos and lions. To support the fight against illegal wildlife trade, approximately, 165 cities around the world also started to march. Ms. Jen Weimann, the organizer of the event said, “Thousands of people around the world were marching to raise public awareness of the plight of wildlife, and to help ensure that the livelihoods of people relying on wildlife tourism would be secured.” Rhinos get killed every eight hours and an elephant gets killed every fifteen minutes for their ivory. Since not much was being done about this, Weimann decided that it was time to take charge to create a march like how they do it in other areas of the world to substantiate from poaching and illegal trading before all of these endangered animals become extinct. She mentions how now there are less than 23,000 lions that roam freely in Africa when in fifty years ago Africa used to have more than 200,000 lions. Lions were held captive to attract tourists or as pets so the their owners can shoot then as a sign of trophy. The thought of the owners of lions shot them and kept its body as a trophy makes me cringe. Weimann then makes an announcement saying how if hunters keep continuing what they are doing soon these animals are going to become extinct and says, “When that happens the world losses, adding that wildlife tourism in Africa would be a thing of the past, and that whilst small pockets of wilderness may still exist, the genetic variance vital to the long-term survival of the animals would be damaged beyond repair.” The Department of Wildlife and National Parks are also getting involved in this and trying to take as much action as possible. Link

Questions for Midterm:

1. What were the reasons to shift from hunting and gathering to farming?
2. How did Islam reach Africa?
3. What are some evidence to prove that there was trade in the East of Africa?

The Nigerian Violence Against Children took a survey which showed that over 60 percent of the children under the age of 18 are undergoing a form of sexual, physical and emotional abuse, the ratio being more than every 6 out of 10 Nigerian children. Childhood physical violence is the most frequent type of abuse that is reported. In Nigeria, one in ten boys, one if four girls and one in two children experience physical and sexual violence while one if five boys and one in six girls experience emotional abuse, according to the studies done through UNICEF, Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development and the National Population Commission. Poor physical and mental health is a result of childhood abuse which carries out into adulthood and it is also mentioned how these individuals also tend to experience violence with their partners. Chidi Odin-Kalu, the chairman of National Human Rights Commission and Violence Against Children proclaims to take action on violence against children because it is considered a “public health disorder.” Jean Gough the country representative for UNICEF said, “The government of Nigeria is to be commended on the launch of the VAC survey and for its commitment to put an end to it.” Gough also mentions how UNICEF will persist on advocating for the children in Nigeria to grow up without experiencing rid sexual, emotional and physical violence. In this article, it was also mentioned how it was usually relatives, parents or individuals that are known who commit emotional and/or physical abuse or it can also be a peer, an individual in the neighborhood, or an intimate partner.

“Girls should be allowed to complete their education and should not be looked at as wives but as school going children who want to get an education,” said the First Lady Esther Lungu of Zambia. A major issue of what’s going on in Zambia is that young girls are getting married off to elderly men or are being sexually violated or getting pregnant before they even get to finish high school. Lungu was the first one who speak up about this issue in the area and do something about it. Another issue with this is that sometimes the school system is also legitimate. Many schools such as boarding schools were not entirely functional, they had around 362 girl students and 19 teachers. One of the teachers mentions how some of their buildings in the boarding school was being used as boarding houses as a result students had to pay for separate houses off campus. In one of the areas that Lungu visited, Mumbwa, she encouraged women to go back to school regardless of age and how women should take advantage of the programs which enables individuals who quit school or the ones that get pregnant to go back to school and get that education that everyone deserves. A lot of times girls are forced into getting married at such a young age and they don’t get to finish their education or they are impregnated by their husbands or sexually assaulted that their lives becomes about the kids and being a “wife” instead of getting the opportunity of finishing their education. Lungu says,”My appeal to our men is to support and encourage their wives or relatives who are not in school to go back to school and get an education.” With that said, there actually is a law that will soon be enacted of girls and boys only being allowed to get married after the age of 18. Hopefully this will decrease the rate of girls being pregnant at such young ages and increasing the number of women getting an education. Link

The largest river in the world is located in Africa, it is called the Nile River, it is nearly 4132 miles long. Approximately forty million people live next to the banks of the Nile. It starts from lake Victoria and goes al the way up north towards the Mediterranean Sea as it crosses the counties; Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda, South Sudan, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Eritrea, and Egypt. Important cities such as Cairo and Luxor are located along the banks of the Nile. Transportation around these countries made it easy as they used boats to go up and down the river, this was also beneficiary for trade. The Nile river provided the Ancient Egyptians with fertile land. From the textbook reading we learned that Africa does not have rich soil, however near the Nile the soil is very rich to grow crops. This is because around September time there tends to be floods which reinstates farmlands and soil. Wheat, papyrus and flax were the most substantial crops to grow. Wheat was use to make bread and was used for trade with the Middle Eastern countries, papyrus was used for making paper, sandals, and baskets, and flax was used to make clothing. Houses and buildings were built from the mud from the riverbanks that created bricks.  Link

A diamond; pretty and sparkly rock, also known as a girl’s “best friend;” however, this is not the case in Africa. It is far from being a girl’s best friend, diamonds are actually causing continuous bloodshed. Horrifying human suffering has occurred due to this, several violent outbreaks, recruiting children to join military, environmental degradation, trade was taken advantage of and civil wars. Africa supplies about 60% of diamonds and is typically located in Sierra Leone, Catoca in Angola, Venetia in South Africa, and Jwaneng in Botswana. Diamonds whole meaning of love and new beginnings dissolved and turned into power and control in matter of seconds in Africa. It’s scary to acknowledge that someone or groups of people would come and injure and even kill to take over your land because that’s where diamonds were located. Instead of making it more of a profitable country, why is killing eachother over it make things better? Over 3.7 million individuals died over violent outbreaks due to diamonds. These civil wars have decreased tremendously and there are some diamond industries that are thriving today. Link