This week saw a shift in the way global health pundits and practitioners talked about the most important health issues faced on the African continent.

In Africa, NCDs are anticipated to overtake mortality from all other diseases (combined) by 2030

With the UN Summit on Non-Communicable Diseases just 3 days away, everyone is scrambling to have something to say. Many organizations are talking more about their work with HIV and cervical cancer, rates of obesity increasing in South Africa, and even Michigan has been talking about its high rates of tobacco use and the effect that has on the health care system. Will NCDs take precedence over infectious diseases?

South Africa: Non-Communicable Diseases Take Center Stage

The Deputy Minister of Health, Dr Gwen Ramokgopa noted, ”We need to ensure that the NCDs don’t reach the [level] of HIV and Aids.” In a country like South Africa, already struggling with managing a weak health care system in rural and peri-urban areas and the onslaught of HIV/AIDS, the advent of increasing cases of NCDs is troubling. How can a system already taxed to the extreme handle so many chronic conditions when it doesn’t have the capacity. South Africa has one of the more advanced health care systems on the continent, so this is an indication of how other countries health systems might fair as NCDs become more prominent.

South Africa: Primary Health Care gets an EU Boost

In a newly launched program aimed at assisting the South African government to improve quality of and access to primary health care services; fight HIV/Aids and TB and improve maternal and child health – goals which are informed by the National Service Delivery Agreement, South African priorities and the NSP for HIV and Aids (2011 – 2014). This is a welcome boost and Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi spoke of re-engineering the health care system to be more comprehensive with programs focused at the District level and within schools.

Namibia: Choosing Health – Harder than it Seems

The government plans to subsidize farmers in order to help Namibian access healthier foods. Currently the best options are expensive imported products and for many low-income Namibians this is just not an option. “This trend is not unique to Namibia. Countries like the United States of America have tomes of research that show that the poorer you are the fewer healthier eating options you have.”

Burundi: A Dozen Killed in Cholera Outbreak

“It’s all a matter of behaviour change; if the water is treated and if all partners sensitized the population in the use of latrines, there would be no problem” said Vénérand Nzigamasabo, head of the department of disaster management and assistance to vulnerable people at the Burundi Red Cross. Cholera outbreaks aren’t breaking news in African countries, but in the past year there has been an increase in the number of outbreaks. Many times people talk about water supply and sanitation, but its not often that you hear someone talking about cholera related to behaviour changes. Efforts to contain the outbreak continue, with the Red Cross announcing it would distribute more hygiene kits – comprising jerry cans, soap and buckets – next week. ”The treatment of water at home is also envisaged since water-trucking is very expensive,” Nzigamasabo said.

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“News you can use.” This adage has been selfishly and regrettably adopted by a vast majority of western media sources, particularly those in the United States, failing to recognize that news about foreign conflict is news we can all use. Anup Shah discusses this problem with regards to the ignorance it has produced regarding African conflict in her article “Conflicts in Africa.” According to Shah, citing research performed by Media Tenor over the course of 18 months, only 0.2% of 23,587 reports from the United States, Great Britain, and Germany focused on conflicts in Africa. This is especially unnerving considering the fact that death tolls and refugee counts in several of the reported conflicts, Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Ethiopia, Ivory Coast, and Liberia, far exceeded those of other conflicts which received far greater news coverage. An example cited in Shah’s article is that the Israeli-Pakistan conflict was given far more attention in western media sources than fighting in the DRC where deaths were much more numerous. The reason? Media sources with only the interests of their viewers as well as their government in mind.

In an increasingly globalized world that allows people to connect to each other around the world in seconds, this is a problem. Earth is quickly becoming a singular planetary community rather than hundreds of smaller, national societies. As a result, understanding and education about places not currently understood is absolutely vital.

The United States has been and will likely continue to be involved in the situation in Israel and Pakistan largely for our own interests in the Middle East. Therefore, people need to know what’s going on there for as long as we’re implicated in the situation. Conversely, besides any minimal foreign aid the US sends to places like the DRC and Sierra Leone, we have little vested interests in those areas (excluding the diamond-rich Sierra Leone countryside) that would make the American public want to become educated on affairs in these places. The major interest in these areas is, of course, consumer-driven, since the DRC is very rich in Coltan, an ore used to make myriad electronics so vital to our everyday lives. Unfortunately, this western business interest that has the potential to better the lives of the inhabitants, mainly serves to fuel pre-existing problems in the region.
Many Americans are sadly and disturbingly under the impression that Africa is a mysterious place that just naturally and inherently produces conflict, and that there’s really just nothing we can do about it. This is wrong.

Africa is a beautiful place with a history of peace and conflict resolution much longer than ours. Still, because of the discourse produced by those in power over the course of our history, people simply don’t realize this and never will unless something changes in people’s attitudes regarding the world around them.

Furthermore, western media has little to no interest in reporting on Africa, be it good or bad news, due to the historical implications surrounding it. Much of the problems that have arisen in war-torn countries came from severe cultural, economic, and social oppression inflicted during colonialism. Similarly to here in the US, people would just rather forget that dark period in history and not recognize the seemingly irreparable damage it has done to innocent peoples’ lives.

Now, this entire ordeal might seem hopeless and anyone reading this might be under the impression that there is nothing they can do. Well I am pleased to tell you that you are mistaken. The best solution to this problem? Education. Education leads to understanding; understanding leads to tolerance and acceptance. The latter both lead to compassion and desire to help, which is where groups like SCOUT BANANA and other international philanthropic organizations that want to help those who need it help themselves come in.

So next time you sit down to read the paper or watch the news on TV I’m presenting you with this challenge: for every story you read or watch about domestic affairs, read or watch at least one about Africa, or any other region of the world not typically covered on CNN, ABC, CBS, or in USA Today, The New York Times, The Washington Post, or any other major news source. You might be surprised how much you have to learn.