The Shackled Continent: Power, Corruption, And African World: Case Study

What do people do when they need to seek medical help? In developed countries such as the United States, it is normal for a person to see a doctor once a year for a physical exam. If a person is in need of medical attention, they will go to the hospital. They know that health insurance will help them pay the cost for these visits. However, in developing countries such as Ethiopia, some people may not be as fortunate. Some people are so poor, they cannot see a doctor when they are in need of help. The country that they live in can be so underdeveloped that there is no health care system implemented to help people pay for these costly expenses. So many innocent people are dying from diseases that medicine can cure. Also, there is a very small …show more content…
Some are so scared be treated because they know that the programs are bad. Instead, they stay home and try to cure themselves, which can lead to death. The know that the doctors who are supposed to take care of them are going to harm them. Others will reject a doctor’s treatment because they believe in supernatural causes. In the book “The Shackled Continent: Power. Corruption, and African Lives”, Robert Guest discusses this with a Tanzanian doctor. The book says “ Instead of trusting conventional medicine, they turn to traditional healers. Some traditional treatments may have healing properties, but many are useless and possibly dangerous” (239). These people are not familiar with conventional medicine because it is just starting to be introduced. Therefore, they stick to their usual customs. Also in the book, a Tanzanian doctor told the story of a child who had malaria. Her mother believed that her daughter was taken over by evil spirits, and if the doctors treated her with an injection, the evil spirits would then escape and possess others. The doctors had to chase the mother down and use different treatment so that the child would not be subjected to traditional healing. This incident is probably one of thousands that have taken place in underdeveloped …show more content…
Their mistakes may lead to the death of their patients. 44,000-98,000 patients die annually as a result of medication-related problems. 65% of these mistakes could be avoided if a medication administration process is implemented. ("Review and analysis of quality healthcare system enhancement in developing countries.") Quality doctors are needed so that people can be treated well when they need help. But in these underdeveloped countries, there are not enough programs in place to train these doctors so that they know what to do when a problem arises. If more teaching programs existed, patients would not be dying so