Community Assessment Project (Research Paper Sample)

Community Assessment Project Name Course Details Instructors Name Date Introduction Ethiopia is located in the horn of Africa and it covers a land area of close to one million square kilometer. It is constitutionally a federal government comprising two administrative councils and nine regional state that are further divided into 15000 kebeles (vilages) and 800 woredas (districts) (Lindtjorn & Med, 2008). The economy of Ethiopia relies heavily on Agriculture which accounts for about half of it Gross Domestic Product, eighty percent of its employment and close to about sixty percent of its total export (Lindtjorn & Med, 2008). It is still categorized among the poorest developing countries with an average per capita income of US $180. The total sum up of education and health expenditure of this community is sixteen and six percent of the national expenditure respectively. Man-made and natural disasters and public health emergency are quite common in most Ethiopian communities due to floods, drought, volcanic-eruptions, wet and dry mass movement and epidemic of communicable diseases. The health care system in Ethiopia has been improved overtime from a curative approach to a more preventive approach. This improvement is in correspondence to causes of morbidities and mortality in the country because most of the mortality incidence are due to communicable diseases that can be averted through access of basic health care services (FDREM, 2005). Physical Consideration Ethiopia is one of the African countries that signed up for Libreville Declaration on Environment and Health. It has taken part in the global initiative to prevent degradation of the environment at a global and local level. The major factors that are affecting the health of the Ethiopian population in the urban setting are the hazardous chemicals and waste from the from industries and poor household and chemical management. Food contamination, indoor air pollution, disease vector and poor housing are also among the many risk factors that are affecting the health of the Ethiopian population. In urban settings like Addis Ababa, toxic waste from automobile industries and even hospitals are most common. Variability of rainfall in this country has contributed to frequent famines and food shortages (Deribew $ Alemseged, 2009). This variation has rendered the prediction of some diseases like malaria, meningococcal meningitis diarrhea and other diseases that are related to water to be impossible. The continuous use of dung and wood fuel in the rural areas is responsible for high level of indoor pollutions (FDREM, 2005). In the urban areas the increased industrialization and automobile traffic together with the location of the Addis Ababa between mountains on its sides is responsible for large amounts of air pollution in the city. Ethiopia has twelve major river basins that annually carry about 110 billion cubic meters of water in the highlands region towards the low lands of the neibouring countries like Kenya (Deribew & Alemseged, 2009). The rivers have steep gradient and the streams are very steep with very strong current thus this affect the habitat of vectors. Other water related issues include contamination by animal and human waste, risk of infection that is associated with stagnant water that are used in irrigation schemes. Similarly the soil of the Ethiopian communities has contributed to disease transmission (FDREM, 2005). These soil has a . The food aid programs of the America that introduces genetically engineered grain crops contributes to the potential threat to the biodiversity of Ethiopian crops and its food security. An increase in the global mean temperature has brought about a conducive breeding environment vectors and consequent spread of vector-borne diseases of which malaria is the most common (FDREM, 2005). Biophysical consideration. The health status indicators of the Ethiopian community are among the lowest among 94 developing countries. The average life expectancy at of the Ethiopian population is approximately 50.9 years for male and 53 years for the female. The infant mortality rate is about seven percent live births, the mortality rate under the age of five is about twelve percent and maternal mortality ratio is the highest ranging from sixty to seventy percent. There has been a gradual decrease in child mortality since the year 1960 (Bayleygne et al, 2007). The mortality of infants and children under the age of five have declined in the past 25 years in which the most significant decrease has been observed in the past five years (Bayleygne et al, 2007). However, the mortality rate of under-five and infants is still very high such that one out of every six children dies before it attains its sixth birth day. Under five mortality reduced by 2 per 1000 live births per annum between the 1990 and 2000 (FDREM, 2005). However, if the country is to be on a sustained trend towards child survival it requires a decrease of five per a thousand live birth each year. The under-five and infant mortality rates of children from poor quintile and children from rich quintile are sixteen and thirty one percent respectively. The rural/ urban difference in the rate of mortality is however much more pronounced. Infant mortality rate are 114.5 and 96.5 percent in rural and urban areas respectively while the under-five mortality rate are 192.5 and 148.6 in rural and urban areas respectively (FDREM, 2005).. Children who are under the age of five years experience two phases of severe illness every year avereagely. This indicate that the environment’s pressure of infection is very high (FDREM, 2005). The immunization performance of Ethiopia is mixed. The number of children between the ages of twelve and twenty three who have received vaccination of various disease is relatively high at 83 percent. It however largely reflect the efforts that was achieved through the polio eradication program. The performance of this community on antenatal care and delivery care including tetanus toxoid vaccination is among the worst in the developing countries. One third of women in Ethiopia and 25 percent of mothers of children who are less than three years of age body mass indices that is less than 18 hence confirming that the level of deficiency malnutrition and chronic energy is relatively high (FDREM, 2005). Psychological considerations Stigma and psychological issue is quite rampant in Ethiopia. Most of the Ethiopian community still find it difficult to reach out for help just like most of the developing nations. Recent studies have shown that most of the community members are very unwilling to accept and adhere to health advice because they fear being judged by their families, friends and others in the community (Bayleygne et al, 2007). Violence against women has had serious consequences for their physical and mental health in this community. Women or young girls who have been abused by her partner suffer from chronic health problems of various kind. In the Ethiopian community, abused women are the ones that most likely suffer from psychosomatic system, sexual dysfunction, eating problems, depression and anxiety. For most women in Ethiopia, the most common places where sexual harassment and coercion are experienced are in schools (Bayleygne et al, 2007). For instant, in the year 1991, seventy one girls were raped by their male classmate in the neighboring country Kenya (Bayleygne et al, 2007). While much of this research comes from Ethiopia, it is still not clear whether this portrays high prevalence of this incidence or simply the fact that this problem has had a greater visibility in Ethiopia than most part of the world. Harassment of girls by rude boys is in all manner a problem across all parts of the globe. In this community, twenty three percent of girls had experienced sexual harassment while attending schools and this has greatly contributed to the increased rate of sexual health problems in this region. Social cultural considerations The people of Ethiopia have incorporated culture in their varied social, political, economic administrative, moral psychological and religious conditions. The history, languages, oral tradition, food preparation, eating habits customs, ornamentations, beliefs, aesthetic values and appreciations are also component of their cultures. The ceremonies that are related to birth, death, weddings, principle of mutual co-operation concerns of the community that emanate from neighborhood , kinship and other type of relationship, inclusive of the traditional methods of social governance and the traditional practices of health care. Even though the government of Ethiopia came up with measures to promote the cultural sector, they could not come up with the proper understanding of culture. In Kebele town in Ethiopia, there is not a very clean place and there is a pungent smell from rivers and the open ditches due lack of proper drainage system (Deribew & Alemseged, 2009). To provide adequate care, physicians must understand the beliefs of the Ethiopian community about medicine and health. To this community health is an equilibrium between the human body and the external environment. For instant, excess amount of sunlight is believed to cause mitch (sunstroke) that result in skin diseases, sexually transmitted diseases are attributed to urinating under a full moon. Most Ethiopians have faith in traditional healing and procedure. In young children, the extraction of lower incisor is believed to prevent diarrhea. The incision of eyelid is believed by this community to cure or prevent conjunctivitis. Circumcision is performed in almost all the men and close to ninety percent of the women. The members of this community do bloodletting for a neurological disease that include fever and syncope called moygnbagegn. ...