Health in Guinea

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Pediatric doctors at Donka Hospital reviewing measles cases during an epidemic in 2009. Donka is the largest public hospital in Guinea. Pediatric doctors at Donka hospital reviewing mealses cases.jpg
Pediatric doctors at Donka Hospital reviewing measles cases during an epidemic in 2009. Donka is the largest public hospital in Guinea.

Guinea faces a number of ongoing health challenges.

Contents

The Human Rights Measurement Initiative [2] finds that Guinea is fulfilling 58.6% of what it should be fulfilling for the right to health based on its level of income. [3] When looking at the right to health with respect to children, Guinea achieves 76.5% of what is expected based on its current income. [3] In regards to the right to health amongst the adult population, the country achieves only 82.3% of what is expected based on the nation's level of income. [3] Guinea falls into the "very bad" category when evaluating the right to reproductive health because the nation is fulfilling only 17.0% of what the nation is expected to achieve based on the resources (income) it has available. [3]

Health infrastructure

Guinea has been reorganizing its health system since the Bamako Initiative of 1987 formally promoted community-based methods of increasing accessibility of drugs and health care services to the population, in part by implementing user fees. [4] The new strategy dramatically increased accessibility through community-based healthcare, resulting in more efficient and equitable provision of services. A comprehensive strategy was extended to all areas of health care, with subsequent improvement in health indicators and improvement in health care efficiency and cost. [5]

Ethnographic research conducted in rural and urban areas of the Republic of Guinea explored perceived distinctions between biomedical and traditional health practices and found that these distinctions shape parental decisions in seeking infant health care, with 93% of all health expenditure taking place outside the state sector. [6]

In June 2011, the Guinean government announced the establishment of an air solidarity levy on all flights taking off from national soil, with funds going to UNITAID to support expanded access to treatment for HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria. [7] Guinea is among the growing number of countries and development partners using market-based transactions taxes and other innovative financing mechanisms to expand financing options for health care in resource-limited settings.

Lacking a sufficient response from the international community during the Ebola outbreak, the health infrastructure was augmented through laboratories and hospital facilities through non-governmental actors such as Doctors without Borders, UC Rusal, or the Ebola Private Sector Mobilisation Group (EPSMG). [8] [9] [10]

Hospitals

Health status

Life expectancy

The 2014 CIA estimated average life expectancy in Guinea was 59.60 years. [11]

Ebola

A situation map of the Ebola outbreak as of 18 June 2014. Ebola Map from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone in summer 2014 (animated).gif
A situation map of the Ebola outbreak as of 18 June 2014.

In 2014 there was an outbreak of the Ebola virus in Guinea. In response, the health ministry banned the sale and consumption of bats, thought to be carriers of the disease. Despite this measure, the virus eventually spread from rural areas to Conakry, [12] and by June 2014 had spread to neighbouring countries - Sierra Leone and Liberia. In August 2014 Guinea closed its borders to Sierra Leone and Liberia to help contain the spread of the virus, as more new cases of the disease were being reported in those countries than in Guinea.

The outbreak began in December in a village called Meliandou, southeastern Guinea, near the borders with Liberia and Sierra Leone. The first known case involved a 2-year-old child who died, after fever and vomiting and passing black stool, on 6 December. The child's mother died a week later, then a sister and a grandmother, all with symptoms that included fever, vomiting, and diarrhoea. Then, by way of care-giving visits or attendance at funerals, the outbreak spread to other villages.

"Unsafe burials" is a source of the transmission of the disease. The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that the inability to engage with local communities hindered the ability of health workers to trace the origins and strains of the virus. [13]

While WHO terminated the Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) on 29 March 2016, [14] the Ebola Situation Report released on 30 March confirmed 5 more cases in the preceding 2 weeks, with viral sequencing relating 1 of the cases to the November 2014 outbreak. [15]

The Ebola epidemic affected the treatment of other diseases in Guinea. Healthcare visits by the population declined due to fear of infection and to mistrust in the health-care system, and the system's ability to provide routine health-care and HIV/AIDS treatments decreased due to the Ebola outbreak. [16]

HIV/AIDS

An estimated 170,000 adults and children were infected at the end of 2004. [17] [18] Surveillance surveys conducted in 2001 and 2002 show higher rates of HIV in urban areas than in rural areas. Prevalence was highest in Conakry (5%) and in the cities of the Forest Guinea region (7%) bordering Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. [19]

HIV is spread primarily through multiple-partner heterosexual intercourse. Men and women are at nearly equal risk for HIV, with young people aged 15 to 24 most vulnerable. Surveillance figures from 2001–2002 show high rates among commercial sex workers (42%), active military personnel (6.6%), truck drivers and bush taxi drivers (7.3%), miners (4.7%), and adults with tuberculosis (8.6%). [19]

Several factors are fueling the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Guinea. They include unprotected sex, multiple sexual partners, illiteracy, endemic poverty, unstable borders, refugee migration, lack of civic responsibility, and scarce medical care and public services. [19]

Coronavirus

The first case of COVID-19 was reported in Guinea on 13 March 2020. [20] By the end of 2020 the total number of confirmed cases was 13,722. Of these, 13,141 had recovered, 500 were active, and 81 people had died. [21]

Malaria

Guinea’s entire population is at risk of malaria. [22] According to the Ministry of Health, malaria is the primary cause of consultations, hospitalizations, and deaths in the general population. [22] Among children less than five years of age, malaria accounts for 31 percent of consultations, 25 percent of hospitalizations, and 14 percent of hospital deaths in public facilities. [22] Transmission is year-round with high transmission from July through October in most areas. [22] The majority of infections are caused by Plasmodium falciparum . [22] Between 2011 and 2018, Guinea’s malaria program achieved many major milestones: two universal coverage campaigns with long-lasting insecticide-treated nets (ITNs), decreased stockouts of artemisinin-based combination therapies, the rollout of rapid diagnostic tests, and the recent parasitemia estimates that noted a significant decrease of the prevalence of malaria in children under 5 years of age between the 2012 Demographic and Health Survey (44 percent) and 2016 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (15 percent). [22] The national malaria strategy involves free continuous distribution of ITNs through antenatal care, vaccination clinics, schools, and mass campaigns. [22]

Malnutrition

Malnutrition is a serious problem for Guinea. A 2012 study reported high chronic malnutrition rates, with levels ranging from 34% to 40% by region, as well as acute malnutrition rates above 10% in Upper Guinea’s mining zones. The survey showed that 139,200 children suffer from acute malnutrition, 609,696 from chronic malnutrition and further 1,592,892 suffer from anemia. Degradation of care practices, limited access to medical services, inadequate hygiene practices and a lack of food diversity explain these levels. [23]

Maternal and child healthcare

The 2010 maternal mortality rate per 100,000 births for Guinea is 680. This is compared with 859.9 in 2008 and 964.7 in 1990. The under 5 mortality rate, per 1,000 births is 146 and the neonatal mortality as a percentage of under 5's mortality is 29. In Guinea the number of midwives per 1,000 live births is 1 and the lifetime risk of death for pregnant women is 1 in 26. [24] Guinea has the second highest prevalence of female genital mutilation in the world. [25] [26]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guinea</span> Country in West Africa

Guinea, officially the Republic of Guinea, is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Guinea-Bissau to the northwest, Senegal to the north, Mali to the northeast, Côte d'Ivoire to the southeast, and Sierra Leone and Liberia to the south. It is sometimes referred to as Guinea-Conakry after its capital Conakry, to distinguish it from other territories in the eponymous region such as Guinea-Bissau and Equatorial Guinea. Guinea has a population of 14 million and an area of 245,857 square kilometres (94,926 sq mi).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guinée forestière</span> Forested region of Guinea

Guinée forestière is a forested mountainous region in southeastern Guinea, extending into northeastern Sierra Leone. It is one of four natural regions into which Guinea is divided and covers 23% of the country. It includes all of the Nzérékoré administrative region, and shares a border with Sierra Leone and Liberia. Its rocky topology contains several mountain ranges and has an average elevation of 460m. Forested Guinea contains important areas of biological diversity such as the UNESCO World Heritage site Mount Nimba Strict Nature Reserve and biosphere reserve Ziama Massif. The Guéckédou prefectures also recorded the initial case of the 2014 Ebola outbreak in Meliandou, a rural village. The virus subsequently spread to urban areas and neighbouring countries Sierra Leone and Liberia.

In terms of available healthcare and health status Sierra Leone is rated very poorly. Globally, infant and maternal mortality rates remain among the highest. The major causes of illness within the country are preventable with modern technology and medical advances. Most deaths within the country are attributed to nutritional deficiencies, lack of access to clean water, pneumonia, diarrheal diseases, anemia, malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Health in Mali</span>

Mali, one of the world's poorest nations, is greatly affected by poverty, malnutrition, epidemics, and inadequate hygiene and sanitation. Mali's health and development indicators rank among the worst in the world, with little improvement over the last 20 years. Progress is impeded by Mali's poverty and by a lack of physicians. The 2012 conflict in northern Mali exacerbated difficulties in delivering health services to refugees living in the north. With a landlocked, agricultural-based economy, Mali is highly vulnerable to climate change. A catastrophic harvest in 2023 together with escalations in armed conflict have exacerbated food insecurity in Northern and Central Mali.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Health in Cambodia</span>

The quality of health in Cambodia is rising along with its growing economy. The public health care system has a high priority from the Cambodian government and with international help and assistance, Cambodia has seen some major and continuous improvements in the health profile of its population since the 1980s, with a steadily rising life expectancy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Health in the Democratic Republic of the Congo</span>

Health problems have been a long-standing issue limiting development in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Health in Burkina Faso</span>

A landlocked sub-Saharan country, Burkina Faso is among the poorest countries in the world—44 percent of its population lives below the international poverty line of US$1.90 per day —and it ranks 185th out of 188 countries on UNDP's 2016 Human Development Index. Rapid population growth, gender inequality, and low levels of educational attainment contribute to food insecurity and poverty in Burkina Faso. The total population is just over 20 million with the estimated population growth rate is 3.1 percent per year and seven out of 10 Burkinabe are younger than 30. Total health care expenditures were an estimated 5% of GDP. Total expenditure on health per capita is 82 in 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Health in Liberia</span>

Liberia is one of the poorest countries in the world. Civil wars have killed around 250,000 people and displaced many more. The wars ended in 2003 but destroyed most of the country's healthcare facilities. Recovery precedes proceeds, but the majority of the population still lives below the international poverty line. Life expectancy in Liberia is much lower than the world average. Communicable diseases are widespread, including tuberculosis, diarrhea, malaria, HIV, and Dengue. Female genital mutilation is widely practiced. Nearly a quarter of children under the age of five are malnourished and few people have access to adequate sanitation facilities. In 2009, government expenditure on health care per-capita was US$22, accounting for 10.6% of totaled GDP. In 2008, Liberia had only one doctor and 27 nurses per 100,000 people. It was ill-equipped to handle the outbreak of Ebola in 2014 and 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Health in Mozambique</span>

Health in Mozambique has a complex history, influenced by the social, economic, and political changes that the country has experienced. Before the Mozambican Civil War, healthcare was heavily influenced by the Portuguese. After the civil war, the conflict affected the country's health status and ability to provide services to its people, breeding the host of health challenges the country faces in present day.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Health in Senegal</span>

Expenditure on health in Senegal was 4.7% of GDP in 2014, US$107 per capita.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Western African Ebola epidemic</span> 2013–2016 major disease outbreak

The 2013–2016 epidemic of Ebola virus disease, centered in Western Africa, was the most widespread outbreak of the disease in history. It caused major loss of life and socioeconomic disruption in the region, mainly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. The first cases were recorded in Guinea in December 2013; later, the disease spread to neighbouring Liberia and Sierra Leone, with minor outbreaks occurring in Nigeria and Mali. Secondary infections of medical workers occurred in the United States and Spain. In addition, isolated cases were recorded in Senegal, the United Kingdom and Italy. The number of cases peaked in October 2014 and then began to decline gradually, following the commitment of substantial international resources.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ebola virus epidemic in Sierra Leone</span>

An Ebola virus epidemic in Sierra Leone occurred in 2014, along with the neighbouring countries of Guinea and Liberia. At the time it was discovered, it was thought that Ebola virus was not endemic to Sierra Leone or to the West African region and that the epidemic represented the first time the virus was discovered there. However, US researchers pointed to lab samples used for Lassa fever testing to suggest that Ebola had been in Sierra Leone as early as 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ebola virus epidemic in Guinea</span> 2013–2016 disease outbreak in Guinea

An epidemic of Ebola virus disease in Guinea from 2013 to 2016 represents the first ever outbreak of Ebola in a West African country. Previous outbreaks have been confined to several countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ebola virus epidemic in Liberia</span> Health disaster in Africa

An epidemic of Ebola virus disease occurred in Liberia from 2014 to 2015, along with the neighbouring countries of Guinea and Sierra Leone. The first cases of virus were reported by late March 2014. The Ebola virus, a biosafety level four pathogen, is an RNA virus discovered in 1976.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Responses to the West African Ebola virus epidemic</span>

Organizations from around the world responded to the West African Ebola virus epidemic. In July 2014, the World Health Organization (WHO) convened an emergency meeting with health ministers from eleven countries and announced collaboration on a strategy to co-ordinate technical support to combat the epidemic. In August, they declared the outbreak an international public health emergency and published a roadmap to guide and coordinate the international response to the outbreak, aiming to stop ongoing Ebola transmission worldwide within 6–9 months. In September, the United Nations Security Council declared the Ebola virus outbreak in the West Africa subregion a "threat to international peace and security" and unanimously adopted a resolution urging UN member states to provide more resources to fight the outbreak; the WHO stated that the cost for combating the epidemic will be a minimum of $1 billion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West African Ebola virus epidemic timeline</span>

This article covers the timeline of the 2014 Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa and its outbreaks elsewhere. Flag icons denote the first announcements of confirmed cases by the respective nation-states, their first deaths, and their first secondary transmissions, as well as relevant sessions and announcements of agencies such as the World Health Organization (WHO), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and NGOs such as Doctors Without Borders; medical evacuations, visa restrictions, border closures, quarantines, court rulings, and possible cases of zoonosis are also included.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ebola virus disease in Mali</span>

Ebola virus disease in Mali occurred in October 2014, leading to concern about the possibility of an outbreak of Ebola in Mali. A child was brought from Guinea and died in the northwestern city of Kayes. Mali contact traced over 100 people who had contact with the child; tracing was completed in mid-November with no further cases discovered. In November, a second unrelated outbreak occurred in Mali's capital city, Bamako. Several people at a clinic are thought to have been infected by a man traveling from Guinea. On January 18, Mali was declared Ebola-free after 42 days with no new cases. There had been a cumulative total of eight cases with six deaths.

The following lists events that happened during 2014 in Sierra Leone.

The following lists events that happened during 2014 in Guinea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ebola in Nigeria</span>

Cases of the Ebola virus disease in Nigeria were reported in 2014 as a small part of the epidemic of Ebola virus disease which originated in Guinea that represented the first outbreak of the disease in a West African country. Previous outbreaks had been confined to countries in Central Africa.

References

  1. 1 2 Mohamed Saliou Camara (2007). Le pouvoir politique en Guinée sous Sékou Touré. Editions L'Harmattan. p. 273. ISBN   978-2-296-03299-6.
  2. ↑ "Human Rights Measurement Initiative – The first global initiative to track the human rights performance of countries". humanrightsmeasurement.org. Retrieved March 18, 2022.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Guinea - HRMI Rights Tracker". rightstracker.org. Retrieved March 18, 2022.
  4. ↑ "User fees for health: a background". Archived from the original on November 28, 2006. Retrieved December 28, 2006.
  5. ↑ Tassinari, C. A.; Roger, J. (1975). "Implementation of the Bamako Initiative: strategies in Benin and Guinea". Advances in Neurology. 11: 201–19. PMID   3105.
  6. ↑ Leach, M; et al. (May 2008). "New therapeutic landscapes in Africa: Parental categories and practices in seeking infant health in the Republic of Guinea". Social Science and Medicine. 66 (10): 2157–2167. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2008.01.039. PMID   18314240. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved May 26, 2012.
  7. ↑ UNITAID. Republic of Guinea Introduces Air Solidarity Levy to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria. Archived 2011-11-12 at the Wayback Machine Accessed 5 July 2011.
  8. ↑ "Guinea: Mobilization Against Ebola Epidemic". MSF USA. March 31, 2014. Retrieved July 11, 2017.
  9. ↑ "Ebola and the Private Sector" (PDF). Oxfam.
  10. ↑ RUSAL, UC. "UC RUSAL Opens a Modern Epidemiology Centre in Guinea". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved July 11, 2017.
  11. ↑ "CIA - The World Factbook Life Expectancy". Cia.gov. Archived from the original on December 29, 2018. Retrieved June 25, 2014.
  12. ↑ "Ebola: Guinea outbreak reaches capital Conakry". BBC. March 28, 2014. Retrieved March 30, 2014.
  13. ↑ "Ebola Situation Report – 4 March 2015 | Ebola". apps.who.int. Archived from the original on March 1, 2017. Retrieved February 14, 2017.
  14. ↑ "Ebola is no longer a public health emergency". World Health Organization. Archived from the original on March 31, 2016. Retrieved February 14, 2017.
  15. ↑ "Ebola Situation Report – 30 March 2016 | Ebola". apps.who.int. Archived from the original on June 13, 2016. Retrieved February 14, 2017.
  16. ↑ Ndawinz, Jacques D A; Cissé, Mohamed; Diallo, Mohamadou S K; Sidibé, Cheik T; D'Ortenzio, Eric (April 2015). "Prevention of HIV spread during the Ebola outbreak in Guinea" (PDF). The Lancet. 385 (9976): 1393. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(15)60713-9.
  17. ↑ "Status of HIV/AIDS in Guinea, 2005" (PDF). World Health Organization. 2005. Retrieved September 30, 2007.
  18. ↑ "Epidemiological Fact Sheets: HIV/AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections, December 2006" (PDF). World Health Organization. December 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 25, 2007. Retrieved September 30, 2007.
  19. 1 2 3 "Health Profile: Guinea" (PDF). USAID. March 2005. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 13, 2008.PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
  20. ↑ "EU employee tests positive for coronavirus in Guinea's first case". Reuters. March 13, 2020.
  21. ↑ "COVID-19 and W/Africa: 1,994 new cases, 31 new deaths in 24 hours". APA. December 31, 2020. Retrieved January 2, 2021.
  22. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Guinea" (PDF). President's Malaria Initiative. 2018.PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
  23. ↑ "Enquête nationale nutrition-santé,basée sur la méthodologie SMART, 2011-2012" (PDF). World Food Programme. 2012. Retrieved May 12, 2014.[ permanent dead link ]
  24. ↑ "The State of the World's Midwifery". United Nations Population Fund. Retrieved June 25, 2014.
  25. ↑ "WHO – Female genital mutilation and other harmful practices". Archived from the original on October 12, 2014. Retrieved October 15, 2014.
  26. ↑ "Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting: A statistical overview and exploration of the dynamics of change – UNICEF DATA" (PDF). Unicef.org. July 22, 2013. Archived (PDF) from the original on April 5, 2015. Retrieved July 23, 2017.
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