Ivory Coast faces multiple health challenges, caused by factors including malaria, lack of access to medicine, and healthcare staffing shortages.
Ivory Coast faces multiple health challenges, caused by factors including malaria, lack of access to medicine, and healthcare staffing shortages.
As of 2020 [update] , the Human Rights Measurement Initiative has found that Ivory Coast is fulfilling 56.2% of what it should be fulfilling for the right to health based on its level of income. [1] [2] When looking at the right to health with respect to children, Ivory Coast was found to provide 79.9% of what is expected based on its current income; amongst the adult population the country achieves only 62%. [3] [4] In terms of reproductive healthcare, the nation was found to meet 26.6% of what the nation is expected to achieve based on the resources (income) it has available. [5]
In the same year, the CIA World Factbook estimated that Ivory Coast spent 3.3% of its GDP on healthcare, and, as of 2019 [update] , that there were .016 physicians per 1,000 people. [6]
As of 2023 [update] , life expectancy in Ivory Coast is estimated to be 60.5 years for men and 65 years for women. [6]
In Ivory Coast, malaria is the leading cause of mortality among children and continues to be the top reason for medical consultations and hospitalizations. [7] Health facilities reported approximately 2.3 million presumed and confirmed malaria cases in 2015 [update] . [7] Malaria is endemic throughout Ivory Coast the entire year, with peaks during the rainy season. [7]
Ivory Coast aims to reduce malaria deaths by increasing the proportion of the population sleeping under an insecticide-treated mosquito net, of pregnant women taking sulfadoxine/pyrimethamine, and of cases that get treated in accordance with national guidelines. [7] The strategy includes an emphasis on introducing an integrated approach to community interventions (malaria, pneumonia, and diarrhea) and a more participative and inclusive role for the private sector in combating malaria. [7]
In 2024, the Ivory Coast received the first doses of R21 malaria vaccine from the world’s largest vaccine maker, the Serum Institute of India, in collaboration with the University of Oxford, and began rolling out a new vaccination drive with a total of 656,600 doses to cover 250,000 children aged from newborn to 23 months across 16 regions. [8]
As of 2022 [update] , UNAIDS has estimated that 410,000 Ivorians live with HIV, and that the HIV prevalence rate for adults aged 15-29 is approximately 1.8%.
The 2020 [update] maternal mortality rate per 100,000 births for Ivory Coast was 480; as of 2023 [update] the mortality rate for infants was 54 out of every 1,000. [6] In 2021, the UN estimated that there were 2.2 midwives for every 10,000 people. [9]
The FGM/C Research Initiative has estimated that 36.7% of Ivorian women between the ages of 15 and 49 have undergone female genital mutilation (as of 2016 [update] ); it also estimates that 79.4% of the same population opposes the practice. The initiative has also noted a downward trend in the rate of female genital mutilation. [10]
Hunger is also a problem Ivory Coast faces, and it contributes to many diseases. The country's National Development Plan, established in 2016 [update] , has sought to develop the economy and has led to drops in food insecurity, though as of 2018 [update] it was estimated that 10.8% of the country still experienced food insecurity. However, malnutrition and its comorbidities do persist, particularly in woman-headed and agricultural households. Many factors contribute to hunger, including climate shocks and lack of access to agricultural resources (particularly for food crop farmers). [11]
There were 1,792 medical facilities in Ivory Coast in 2019 [update] . [12]
Côte d'Ivoire, also known as Ivory Coast, and officially as the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is the port city of Abidjan. It borders Guinea to the northwest, Liberia to the west, Mali to the northwest, Burkina Faso to the northeast, Ghana to the east, and the Atlantic Ocean's Gulf of Guinea to the south. With 30.9 million inhabitants in 2023, Ivory Coast is the third-most populous country in West Africa. Its official language is French, and indigenous languages are also widely used, including Bété, Baoulé, Dioula, Dan, Anyin, and Cebaara Senufo. In total, there are around 78 different languages spoken in Ivory Coast. The country has a religiously diverse population, including numerous followers of Islam, Christianity, and traditional faiths like Animism.
The Inter-African Committee on Traditional Practices Affecting the Health of Women and Children(IAC) (French: Comité interafricain sur les pratiques traditionnelles affectant la santé des femmes et des enfants) is a non-governmental organization (NGO) which seeks to change social values and raise consciousness towards eliminating female genital mutilation (FGM) and other traditional practices which affect the health of women and children in Africa.
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.
International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation is a United Nations-sponsored annual awareness day that takes place on February 6 as part of the UN's efforts to eradicate female genital mutilation. It was first introduced in 2003.
Health in Ethiopia has improved markedly since the early 2000s, with government leadership playing a key role in mobilizing resources and ensuring that they are used effectively. A central feature of the sector is the priority given to the Health Extension Programme, which delivers cost-effective basic services that enhance equity and provide care to millions of women, men and children. The development and delivery of the Health Extension Program, and its lasting success, is an example of how a low-income country can still improve access to health services with creativity and dedication.
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.
The status and social roles of women in Mali have been formed by the complex interplay of a variety of traditions in ethnic communities, the rise and fall of the great Sahelien states, French colonial rule, independence, urbanisation, and postcolonial conflict and progress. Forming just less than half Mali's population, Malian women have sometimes been the center of matrilineal societies, but have always been crucial to the economic and social structure of this largely rural, agricultural society.
Niger is a landlocked country located in West Africa and has Libya, Chad, Nigeria, Benin, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Algeria as its neighboring countries. Niger was French territory that got its independence in 1960 and its official language is French. Niger has an area of 1.267 million square kilometres, nevertheless, 80% of its land area spreads through the Sahara Desert.
Benin faces a number of population health challenges. Apart from modern medicine, traditional medicine plays a big role too.
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.
Health in the Central African Republic has been degraded by years of internal conflict and economic turmoil since independence from France in 1960. One sixth of the country's population is in need of acute medical care. Endemic diseases put a high demand on the health infrastructure, which requires outside assistance to sustain itself.
Female genital mutilation (FGM), also known as female genital cutting (FGC), female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) and female circumcision, is practiced in 30 countries in western, eastern, and north-eastern Africa, in parts of the Middle East and Asia, and within some immigrant communities in Europe, North America and Australia. The WHO defines the practice as "all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons."
Public expenditure on health in the Gambia was at 1.8% of the GDP in 2004, whereas private expenditure was at 5.0%. There were 11 physicians per 100,000 persons in the early 2000s. Life expectancy at birth was 59.9 for females in 2005 and for males 57.7.
Guinea faces a number of ongoing health challenges.
The WHO's estimate of life expectancy for a female child born in Guinea-Bissau in 2008 was 49 years, and 47 years for a boy. in 2016 life expectancy had improved to 58 for men and 61 for women.
Zambia is a landlocked country in Sub Saharan Africa which experiences a burden of both communicable and non-communicable diseases. In line with WHO agenda for equity in health, it has adopted the Universal Health Coverage agenda to mitigate the challenges faced within the health sector. The Ministry of Health (MOH) provides information pertaining to Zambian health. The main focus of the Ministry of Health has been provision of uninterrupted care with emphasis on health systems strengthening and services via the primary health care approach.
Life expectancy in East Timor at birth was at 60.7 in 2007. The fertility rate is at six births per woman. Healthy life expectancy at birth was at 55 years in 2007.
Expenditure on health in Senegal was 4.7% of GDP in 2014, US$107 per capita.
Ivory Coast is a sub-Saharan nation in West Africa. It is a representative presidential democracy where rights are protected in the constitution, international law, and common law. As a member of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, it is a party to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights and a signatory to major international human-rights agreements. In 2011, the Second Ivorian Civil War saw increases in violence and human-rights abuses. Although progress has been made towards reconciliation, the trial of former first lady Simone Gbagbo suggests that the root causes have not been addressed; no one has been convicted of crimes against humanity. According to a 2018 Human Rights Watch report, "Ongoing indiscipline by members of the security services and violent army mutinies demonstrated the precariousness of the country’s newfound stability."
There are multiple factors which contribute to gender equality in Ivory Coast . The history of the Ivory Coast still influences gender inequality in the country. A large factor which also pushes the nation back to be a strong economic player is the lack of education especially for women. It starts from primary education up to higher-level education where girls are obviously disadvantaged compared to boys. Arranged marriages for girls who are often under the age of 18 and lack of knowledge about laws and their rights also promote gender inequality.
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