West Africa
With poverty, hunger and inability to access education comes high rates of sickness and disease and extremely high rates of maternal and child mortality. In Sierra Leone, for example, more women die during childbirth and more children die before their fifth birthday than anywhere else in the world.
High Mortality
The four countries with the highest under-five child mortality rates in the world are all in West Africa. They are, in order:
- Sierra Leone
- Niger
- Mali
- Burkina Faso
Malaria is the leading cause of illness in Sierra Leone, and 47 percent of children under five years old will be infected at least once. Many of these children will die from malaria, even though it is a preventable and treatable sickness.
While most West African countries are on the low end of the HIV/AIDS spectrum, this doesn’t mean people are not affected by the virus. Ghana, for example, currently has an estimated 170,000 children from birth to 17-years-old who are orphans because they have lost their parents to AIDS.
Out of West Africa and Into the Classroom
Encourage your students to follow the example of West Africa’s griots and write the lyrics to a song that talks about some of the health issues in West Africa. When they’re finished, give them the chance to read (or perform!) their lyrics for the class.