Health and wellbeing
Trachoma is the leading infectious cause of blindness worldwide. It is caused by an obligate intracellular bacterium called Chlamydia trachomatis. The infection is transmitted by direct or indirect transfer of eye and nose discharges of infected people, particularly young children who harbor the principal reservoir of infection.
Health and Wellbeing
a) HIV&AIDS Care and treatment, Malaria
HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases (Source: WHO)
- 38 million people globally were living with HIV in 2019.
- 25.4 million People were accessing antiretroviral therapy in 2019.
- 1.7 million People became newly infected with HIV in 2019.
- 690 000 people died from AIDS-related illnesses in 2019.
- 75.7 million people have become infected with HIV since the start of the epidemic.
- 32.7 million people have died from AIDS-related illnesses since the start of the epidemic.
- Tuberculosis remains the leading cause of death among people living with HIV, accounting for around one in three AIDS-related deaths.
- Globally, adolescent girls and young women face gender-based inequalities, exclusion, discrimination and violence, which put them at increased risk of acquiring HIV.
- HIV is the leading cause of death for women of reproductive age worldwide.
- AIDS is now the leading cause of death among adolescents (aged 10–19) in Africa and the second most common cause of death among adolescents globally.
- Over 6.2 million malaria deaths have been averted between 2000 and 2015, primarily of children under five years of age in sub-Saharan Africa. The global malaria incidence rate has fallen by an estimated 37 per cent and the mortality rates by 58 per cent.
WOMEN
YOUTH
MALARIA
Sexual and reproductive Health
The current Situation
complications in pregnancy and childbirth are the leading causes of death among adolescent girls ages 15-19 in low- and middle-income countries, resulting in thousands of deaths each year.6 The risk of maternal mortality is higher for adolescent girls, especially those under age 15, compared to older women. Adolescent pregnancy brings detrimental social and economic consequences for a girl, her family, her community and her nation. Many girls who become pregnant drop out of school, drastically limiting their future opportunities. A woman’s education is strongly correlated to her earning potential, her health and the health of her children. Thus, adolescent pregnancy fuels the intergenerational cycle of poverty and poor health. The younger a girl is when she becomes pregnant, whether she is married or not, the greater the risk to her health. It is estimated that girls under the age of 15 are at greater risk of dying in childbirth than women in their 20s.
Trachoma
Key facts about Trachoma
- Trachoma is a disease of the eye caused by infection with the bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis.
- It is a public health problem in 44 countries, and is responsible for the blindness or visual impairment of about 1.9 million people.
- Blindness from trachoma is irreversible.
- Based on March 2020 data, 137 million people live in trachoma endemic areas and are at risk of trachoma blindness.
- Infection spreads through personal contact (via hands, clothes or bedding) and by flies that have been in contact with discharge from the eyes or nose of an infected person. With repeated episodes of infection over many years, the eyelashes may be drawn in so that they rub on the surface of the eye, with pain and discomfort and permanent damage to the cornea.
- The elimination strategy is summarized by the acronym "SAFE", which means Surgery for advanced disease, Antibiotics to clear C. trachomatis infection, Facial cleanliness and Environmental improvement to reduce transmission.
- The World Health Assembly adopted resolution WHA51.11 in 1998, targeting the global elimination of trachoma as a public health problem.
- In 2019, 92 622 people received surgical treatment for advanced stage of the disease, and 95.2 million people were treated with antibiotics. Global-level antibiotic coverage in 2019 was 57%.
FISTULA
Obstetric fistula is an abnormal opening between the vagina and the bladder or rectum, leading to continuous urinary or fecal incontinence. It is predominantly caused by a very long, or obstructed, labor when women do not have access to quality emergency obstetric care services. Women who experience this preventable condition suffer constant urinary incontinence which often leads to social isolation, skin infections, kidney disorders and even death if left untreated. Affected women are often abandoned by their husbands and families, and ostracized by their communities. Obstetric fistulae can largely be avoided by delaying the age of first pregnancy, by the cessation of harmful traditional practices and by timely access to quality obstetric care, especially caesarean section (UNFPA)
Most genital fistula can be repaired surgically. There are, however, numerous challenges associated with providing fistula repair services in developing countries like Tanzania, including a dearth of available and motivated surgeons with specialized skills, operating rooms, equipment and funding from local or international donors to support both surgeries and post-operative care. Finding ways of providing services in a more efficient and cost-effective manner is paramount. WHO Department of Reproductive Health and Research recently published new research on post-operative catheterization aimed at reducing discomfort among women who have undergone surgery, allowing earlier discharge thus lowing costs and increasing capacity for treating additional fistula patients. For more information, read the result from the link below
Obstetric fistula was eliminated in Europe and the USA following a public health effort that ran from 1935 to 1950,that allowed universal access to safe delivery care. That it is still a public health problem in some countries shows the enormous gap in maternal health care between high-income and low-income nations. Women with obstetric fistula are indicators of the failure of health systems to deliver accessible, timely and appropriate intrapartum care. Obstetric fistula disproportionately affects the poorest women, whose voices are scarcely heard.
According to the latest United Nations statistics, Tanzania is one of 11 countries that together account for 65 per cent of all maternal deaths worldwide. Every fourth woman who dies during pregnancy in Tanzania is a teenager—more than half the girls in the country get pregnant before they turn 19.
Women who experience obstetric fistula suffer constant incontinence, shame, social segregation and health problems. It is estimated that more than 2 million young women live with untreated obstetric fistula in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Preventing and managing obstetric fistula contribute to the Sustainable Development Goal 3 of improving maternal health, that’s why MGI4D have decided to bridge this gap by ensuring that we are improving access to high quality care for obstetric fistula by creating health seeking behavior among women and girls, raise awareness of the endemic, change the norms that promotes early and forced marriages and ensure that we cease stigmatization of people with Fistula
Obstetric fistula is preventable; it can largely be avoided by:
- delaying the age of first pregnancy;
- the cessation of harmful traditional practices; and
- Timely access to obstetric care.
Water Hygiene and sanitation
Key facts about wash IN schools
Drinking water:
- 1. Globally 69% of schools have a basic drinking water* service.
- 2. In 1 in 4 primary schools there is no drinking water service. Worse, that number drops to 1 in 6 at the secondary school level.
- 3. Overall, nearly 600 million children lacked a basic drinking water service at their school in 2016, and less than half the schools in Oceania and only two thirds of schools in Central and South Asia have a basic drinking water service.
Toilets
- 4. Globally only 66 per cent of schools had a basic sanitation service** in 2016.
- 5. 1 in 5 primary schools have no sanitation service as well as 1 in 8 secondary schools.
- 6. One third of schools in sub-Saharan Africa and Oceania have no sanitation service. In most countries where data is available, less than 50 per cent of schools have toilets accessible to students with limited mobility.
- 7. Globally, 600 million children do not have a basic sanitation service at school.
Hand washing:
- 8. Nearly 900 million children worldwide lacked a basic hygiene service*** at their school.
- 9. 1 in 3 primary schools have no hygiene service and over a quarter of secondary schools have no hygiene service.
- 10. Over one third of schools worldwide and half of schools in the least developed countries have no hygiene service.
- 11. UNICEF has WASH in Schools programmes in more than 90 countries and reaches an average 3 million children a year.
Responding to these, Maasai Girls Initiatives for Development has developed a pool of trained community champion and Action teams in order to raise awareness on various public health intervention, our concern is to ensure that people are have access to these services but we also advocating for quality service provision, renovating hospitals and maternal wards, hospital toilets and distributing hospital equipment’s like beds, ultra-sound machines, surgical equipment and training for the Health care workers etc