South Africa
South Africa is the southernmost country of the African continent, well known for their natural beauty and great cultural diversity. (Thompson, 2019) Unfortunately they struggle with overpopulation, lack of clean water, sanitation and good health. These issues affect their progress towards their sustainable development goal of ensuring good health and well-being.
South Africa is currently populated at 57,142,000 people. This disrupts the quality health care needed to ensure their third Sustainable development goal is met. They currently have 0.91 physicians per 1,000 people.(CIA, 2018) South Africa currently struggles with the spread of HIV/AIDS and with the high demand of health physicians these infectious diseases will continue to spread and get worse. According to the world factbook, South Africas' rivers and lakes are in need of extensive water conservation and control measures due to growth in water usage and the rivers are polluted. South Africa plans to implement the Southern African Development Community’s Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan along with the National Development Plan (NDP). (SDG, 2019) The NDP has contributed to improving the living conditions for millions of South Africans. The implementation is inclusive and transparent. Their SDGs are currently being monitored with voluntary national reviews on a yearly basis. They continue to asses the critical areas that need attention such as clean water, sanitation and health and progress. Despite, numerous investments from foundations for the implementation of their agenda, the cost for their plans were not found. Inclusive growth is being advanced by increasing levels of investment and measures to create jobs.
Despite nearly 80 percent of the land use being agricultural, climate change comes into play with their prolonged droughts and the excessive water usage as a result of it. Also, there is air pollution which results in acid rain and soil erosion which prevents the planting of crops, and solid waste pollution. These issues affect the country tremendously because it limits their food production, sanitation, clean water and habitable land. South Africa contains an abundance of natural resources such as gold, gem diamonds and coal. In addition, they have well-developed finances, communications and energy production. These resources will allow them to reach their sustainable development goal by increasing the number of physicians, which will result in improvement of health care, and also assist with water sanitation and rationing. (CIA, 2018). These challenges are a priority to South Africa because of their interest in the SDGs and their commitment to ensuring a better life for all becomes a reality. (SDG, 2019)
Citations:
Goal 3: Good health and well-being: UNDP in South Africa. (n.d.). Retrieved November 25, 2019, from https://www.za.undp.org/content/south_africa/en/home/sustainable-development-goals/goal-3-good-health-and-well-being.html.
McGinnis, C. (2019, April 15). United Airlines wants to fly to South Africa. Retrieved November 26, 2019, from https://www.sfgate.com/travel/article/United-Cape-Town-South-Africa-13769038.php.
South Africa .:. Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform. (n.d.). Retrieved November 25, 2019, from https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/memberstates/southafrica.
The World Factbook: South Africa. (2018, February 1). Retrieved November 25, 2019, from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/sf.html.
Thompson, L. M., Lowe, C. C., Mabin, A. S., Cobbing, J. R. D., Nel, A., & Bundy, C. J. (2019, November 21). South Africa. Retrieved November 25, 2019, from https://www.britannica.com/place/South-Africa.
After reading you post, this reminded me of out Discussion Board #5 that talked about the contribution of the Gates Foundation that is aiming to decrease those high number of HIV/AIDS and their smart stewardship of money given to them. I also love how they are monitoring their goal yearly to ensure the safety and health of the people.
ReplyDeleteHello, I found this blog to be very informative and very interesting. I'm not very familiar with the country of South Africa, but it is so interesting to know that there is a demand for physicians. I actually want to know why there are less physicians in the country, when it seems like several health problems exist. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHi Ma'k'la, your post was very interesting as I've known some things about South Africa, but not too much. It's interesting that they also have a high HIV/AIDS problem like the rest of Africa, but no Malaria problems even though they have large amounts of water. It's so unfortunate for the people who live in this country as they have such a high population and they don't even have 1 actual physician for every 1,000 people. Climate change effects almost every nation, but it's sad that they have such extreme effects such as acid rain, and that their food production is so highly effected from the climate.
ReplyDeleteHey Hi Ma'k'la,
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to find out that a well developed and westernized country like South Africa is having trouble finding physicians and struggling with poverty. But that was because I was judging the country by its cover. After reading more about the economy of the country it was easy to see why there are very few physicians left. And that was due to the huge mass of educated medical experts traveling and migrating away from South Africa in search of a better life and a higher income. When comparing the income of a physician in South Africa and the United States, a doctor in South Africa makes about 4,877.61 USD per month as to where the average doctor in the United States makes $6,667 USD. Which is a huge jump that many hardworking physicians are willing to make migrate for. As an immigrant, myself that is the exact reason as to why my family migrated to the United States.