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Death is a part of human nature. Across the world, it occurs in millions daily. Ideally, they should happen in old age but with diseases, epidemics, and non-medical causes of death, we find it occurring at any age. The death rate of a population can be linked to major factors responsible such as age, cause, the healthcare industry, and even how wealthy the population is.
The lack of access to adequate medical resources and facilities has led to a significant number of deaths in Africa. This Analysis delves into the causes of these deaths, those who are most affected, and factors that contribute to the health issues in Africa and hope to recommend possible solutions.
A glance at the data reveals the decline in deaths over the period of consideration (2010- 2019).
Over the past ten years, Africa has seen a decrease in deaths rate across its countries, from 0.90% deaths of the total population in 2010, at the start of the Millenia to 0.67% at the end.
Causes
There are 33 different causes of death documented and, the top five of these causes of death are all diseases viz, cardiovascular diseases, neonatal disorders, HIV/AIDS, Lower respiratory infections, and diarrheal. These five causes are responsible for approximately 54% of deaths in Africa.
While diseases constitute the major causes of death in Africa, there are other environmental factors such as terrorism, and drowning, that contribute to deaths in the continent. Some of these causes are seen in the chart below
Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Ethiopia amongst other countries are part of the top African countries with respect to number of deaths. One could wrongly infer that the death rates in these countries are higher when compared to other countries in Africa. This assumption would be wrong as these countries are among the most populous countries in the region and hence would have more deaths.
A death rate per 100,000 would be more useful in determining countries where more people in 100,000 are dying. A difference in the countries with the highest death rates can be seen below;
Lesotho has the highest death rate with 16,425 deaths in 100,000 followed by the Central African Republic and Eritrea. These countries are some of the least populated, hence they have more people dying in every 100,000 people. It is worth noting that none of the countries with the highest deaths are in the top ten death rates
Age
The most deaths occur in children under the age of five years accounting for 35.4% of deaths, followed by people in the 15-49 age group with 20%, with the lowest deaths occurring in children aged 5-14 years.
From 2010 to 2019, the highest number of deaths were recorded in the <5 years age group indicating a severe crisis in Neonatal and Maternal health. This is no wonder as Neonatal disorders that affects newborns in this group are the second highest cause of death with 9.93%.
Doctor-Patient Ratio
The WHO recommends 1 doctor to 600 patients. When scaled on a per 10,000 patients basis, that number becomes 17 doctors to 10,000 patients. Over the period of ten years, only 6 out of 47 countries had 17 or more doctors to 10,000 patients. These are Botswana, Seychelles, South Africa, Algeria, Cape Verde, and Mauritius. 89% of the African countries recorded did not meet the standard, this is a troubling amount
Overall, the average African doctor-patient ratio was approximately 4 doctors to 10,000 patients and this is way below the recommended standard. Countries with the lowest doctor-patient ratio per 10,000 is presented below;
Recommendations
While 33 factors were recognized as causes of death, the top five of these causes are responsible for approximately 54% of deaths. More attention and focus should be paid to curtailing the prevalence of these top five causes which are all diseases.
Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the world and the same remains true for Africa, these diseases range from high blood pressure, coronary artery disease, cardiac arrest et.al. Campaigns should be carried out to create awareness about these diseases and healthy lifestyles to adopt.
The most deaths by age were recorded in children under five years, coincidentally the neonatal disorders which affect children in this age group were the second highest cause of death. More attention should be paid to maternal and neonatal health.
Public health policies should be updated, and new ones enacted to deal with the infectious and communicable diseases that make up some of the top 10 causes of death as seen in diarrhea which is surprisingly a killer disease.
Only 6 out of 47 African countries met the WHO recommended doctors-patient ratio of 17 doctors to 10,000 patients. Efforts should be made to improve the quality of medical education, medical personnel salaries and equip medical facilities. These will arrest brain drain and, enable doctors to be at their optimal levels.
Africa spends a low percentage of its GDP on healthcare. Healthcare is therefore grossly underfunded and, health budgets should be increased, and facilities equipped.