h333
mba98
H333WeeklyReport2.docxBrenna Marshall
Gligorije Rakocevic
Ahmed Alhashmi
Mohammed Al Khalifa
Saif Alhajr
South Africa: Weekly Report #2
Health & Education
The general education trend in South Africa is characterized by high rates of participation and completion of education to a certain level. However, this conclusion is reached after considering certain education indicators that include net enrollment rates, age-specific enrolment rates and completion rates. Based on the Department of Education report in 2009, up to 95% of all people that are 15 years of age and below are enrolled in education. Moreover, this rate is almost similar to all people aged between 7-18 years whose enrollment rates are at 94%. The enrollment rates of sub-sectors, or children of ages 5-6 years, are above the accepted rates. For instance, the participation rates of children aged 6 years in some sort of education (most of which is informal and whose quality is uncertain) is 88%, while that of children aged 5 years is 60%. In the 2009 report, the Department of Education estimated that the net enrolment rates in primary education will have reached 100% by 2015 or earlier than that and South Africa seems to have achieved this target. According to UNESCO estimates in 2016, the gross pre-primary enrollment for both sexes in 2016 was 100%. The rate of gross transition to secondary education in the same year was 100% for girls and 96.2% for boys. Over the years, the literacy rates have been falling with a corresponding fall in illiteracy rates. For ages 15 years and older, the literacy rate in 2007 was 90.72% and 87.04% for males and females respectively. In 2015, the literacy rates had risen to 95.4% and 93.41% for males and females respectively. In 2015, the literacy rate for population aged 15-24 years was 98.68% and 99.23% for males and females respectively. Comparing these rates, it can be concluded that the literacy rates for both genders is more-or-less the same.
Health & Income
South Africa’s economy is the second largest and one of the most industrialized countries in Africa. According to the World Bank website, South Africa has an upper-middle-income economy (The World Bank, 2019). A few of the top industries in South Africa include mining: gold and chromium, metalworking, chemicals and fertilizer, machinery, textiles, automobile assembly, metals such as iron and steel, foodstuffs and commercial ship repair (Economy of South Africa, 2019).
Income is related to health in three ways according to Michael Marmot; through the total value of products that the country produces annually, the amount of money an individual makes each year, and the imbalance of income among rich nations and among geographic areas (Marmot, M., 2002). A couple ways Marmot believed income could affect the health of a population are, “through a direct effect on the material conditions necessary for biological survival, and through an effect on social participation and opportunity to control life circumstances (Marmot M., 2002)”. The fewer economic resources that are provided to the public by the community, the more individuals have to rely on their monthly income to support their health (Marmot, M., 2002).
Health & Social/Community
Social determinants heavily impact on the health. This determinants control whether a person is healthy or ill. There is a clear relationship between health and social determinants. In communities where they practice Christianity as the main religion, health outcomes are likely to be positive. This is because religion promotes good health behaviors like avoiding smoking and drinking of alcohol. This healthy behaviors promote well-being of person. On the other hand, some religions which are practiced promote unhealthy behaviors. There are some communities which believe in not going to hospitals. They seek spiritual interventions. This affects the health of the community because they do not benefit from modern medicine (Rumun, 2014).Another social determinants is the legality of LGBTQ people in the society. In places where LGBTQ rights are not protected by the law, it increases chance of unhealthy living environment. This increase mental disorders in the society due to rejection and depression. In places where LGBTQ rights are protected, mental health support structures are available and this promotes good health (Pilling & Et al, 2017).
Another determinant of health is how males relate to female in a society. In communities where males are the key decision makers, it determines the accessibility of women to health. In developing nations, males prove to be a key determinant in maternal health. Involvement of males in maternal health increases positive results. In communities which lack male involvement in women’s health, the health outcomes are negative. This is due to the fact that males in such communities are the decision makers block access to quality care for women. This results poor health outcomes for women and society as a whole. In the developed nations, this is not usually the case. This can be attributed to increased awareness of women’s rights and availability of quality care (Yargawa & Leonardi-Bee, 2015).
Health & Physical Environment
The majority of South Africa’s population lives in urban areas (Jyu.fi, n.d.). The three most populated cities are Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg. Cape Town currently has a population of 4,317,505, which is a 2.81% increase from last year (World Population Review, n.d.). The air quality purity and cleanliness in Cape Town is high, which means quality is considered satisfactory, and air pollution poses little or no risk (NUMBEO, 2019). The water quality only ranked moderately for purity and cleanliness (NUMBEO, 2019). The city of Durban has an estimated current population of 3,442,400 people (World Population Review, n.d.). According to Airvisual the air quality index in Durban is “good” (Airvisual, 2019). Johannesburg has a population of about 4.4 million people World Population Review, 2019). According to the NUMBEO website, Johannesburg’s water and air quality purity and cleanliness both ranked moderately, which means that the water and air quality is not bad nor great (NUMBEO, 2019). Hospitals in South Africa are mainly near the bigger cities. After studying maps of South Africa and the placements of healthcare facilities and hospitals, there are some hospitals or health clinics dispersed all over the country, but several can be found in and around Johannesburg and along the southern coastline, particularly near Cape Town and Durban. Hospitals being located near bigger cities is common since that’s where the majority if the population resides.
References
Airvisual. (2019). Durban Air Quality Index (AQI) and South Africa Air Pollution | AirVisual.
Available at: https://www.airvisual.com/south-africa/kwazulu-natal/durban [Accessed 28
Jan. 2019].
Department of Education, Republic of South Africa. (2009). Trends in education macro
indicators report: 2009 South Africa. Retrieved from
http://pmg-assets.s3-website-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/docs/100108report.pdf
Economy of South Africa. (2019). Retrieved from
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_South_Africa
Jyu.fi. (n.d.). South Africa - People - Population. [online] Available at:
https://www.jyu.fi/viesti/verkkotuotanto/kp/sa/peop_population.shtml [Accessed 28 Jan.
2019].
Marmot, M. (2002). The Influence Of Income On Health: Views Of An Epidemiologist.
Retrieved from https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/full/10.1377/hlthaff.21.2.31
NUMBEO. (2019). Pollution in Johannesburg. [online] Numbeo.com. Available at:
https://www.numbeo.com/pollution/in/Johannesburg [Accessed 28 Jan. 2019].
Pilling, M., & Et al. (2017). Fragmented inclusion: Community participation and lesbian, gay,
bisexual, trans, and queer people with diagnoses of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 606-613.
Rumun, A. J. (2014). INFLUENCE OF RELIGIOUS BELIEFS ON HEALTHCARE
PRACTICE. International Journal of Education and Research, 1-12.
The World Bank. (2019). Data for Upper middle income, South Africa. Retrieved from
https://data.worldbank.org/?locations=XT-ZA
UNESCO. (2017). Education and literacy: South Africa. Retrieved from
http://uis.unesco.org/country/ZA
World Population Review. (n.d.). [online] Available at:
http://worldpopulationreview.com/world-cities/ [Accessed 28 Jan. 2019].
Yargawa, J., & Leonardi-Bee, J. (2015). Male involvement and maternal health outcomes:
systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health,
604-612.
