Allison Jones

Professor Hofmann
English 1102-044
April 22,2014
Note to reader: I completely rewrote my first paragraph to capture the audience better
and to relate it better to my topic. I feel that this paragraph is much better than my last
one, it is also a place where I worked on putting my self into it more. I also just tried to
change the few little things you pointed out in your notes about clarifying on some
things. I f I could further revise it I would
Training for Nurses
I remember a few years ago I was in the doctors office talking to my doctor about
my dreams of becoming a nurse and then going onto becoming Physicians Assistant after
and that I wanted to go on medical missions trips. He began to tell me about a time he
had gone on a mission trip to a small country in Africa, I cant quite remember, and how
he was shocked when he got there to see that the nurses working in that country had
barely any training. Most just had the basic knowledge of about an elementary to middle
school student, most knowing genera first aid. I was completely shocked because those
are things that here in the United States we start learning from a very young age no
matter who you are. I was CPR certified when I was in middle school from taking a
babysitting class with my girl scouts. Then my senior year of high school took a
Certified Nursing Assistants class, which I now have my certification in. In this class we
because CRP and First Aid certified right away and kept learning from there. This fast
that my doctor had told me was something that suck with me for a long time so it was
something I wanted to look further into: What are the differences in the quality of a nurse
in the United States compared to in Africa? Are there just less nurses? less equipment?
More disease? What are the things that compare Africa to the United States with nursing?
Africa is such a big country but the amount of nurses, midwives and doctors
they have do not sufficiently cover enough of the population. The World Health
Organization did a research study on the amount of trained professions in Sub-
Sahara Africa now and what they should be in the future after looking at 12 African
countries and finding the average. Within the first study they found that there was
only .55 nurses and midwives for every 1000 people (Kinfu). Also it is even less
for the doctors where there are only .09 doctors for every 1000 people in these
countries (Kinfu). While in the United States for every 1000 people there are about
9.8 nurses and midwives( Kinfu). These numbers alone I feel already are starting to
show how much of a difference there is for two of the biggest countries.
Within most of Africa the conditions of nurses are the complete opposite of
what it is here in the United States. They have to suffer through violence, disease
out breaks and discrimination. Many nurses go through violence that is usually
related to them getting supplies of drugs for other people. Africa has come of the
biggest outbreaks of HIV and AIDS in the world because they do not have the
vaccines to help begin to stop the spread of different diseases. The lack of hygiene
and sanitation also causes many of the workers of themselves catch the diseases
which means they have to leave their work. People working in the medical field also
feel they do not get the same respect that other professions get, this actually is a
similarity to the United States, and they feel they are under paid usually and not
respected (U.S. Has The Most). For nurses in general it is an extremely tough career
and it doesnt not always get recognized for the hard work that it is put into it. In
todays colleges nursing schools in one of the toughest major to get accepted into,
but sometimes it still doesnt get the recognition that it deserves. I must say that if I
was in these countries I do not know if I could put myself through all of the struggles
that they go though on a daily basis, but someone has to do it. Although nurses in
the United States might now get as much recognition as they deserve they do within
the workplace get treated with respect for the work they do. For me nursing will
always be a job I have unending respect for because everyday they endure
hardships and trauma but continue to go out there and save lives.
On the of the biggest things that these countries such as Nigeria, Mali,
Guinea, Sudan, and many more is the lack of vaccinations. The deadly shots that I
use to think would kill me truly are things that have been saving my life. And this is
exactly the case in Africa there just is not enough vaccinations to try and reach the
whole population. Meningitis is one of the biggest problems that many places are
facing that they just do not have the resources to have such a large amount of
vaccines. Most kinds have to be kept in refrigerated areas to just stay effective. In
the Mid-Africa region alone there are tens of thousands of deaths each year, and
many more left with disabilities, brain damages and deafness (Leach-Kemon).
Although there are so many diseases and disease-related deaths each year
there are new advances being made that will slowly help develop the country to be
much stronger. Because meningitis is one of the biggest killers in these countries it
is one of the newest vaccines that is being tested thought out all of Middle Africa,
which is considered the meningitis belt. There is a research company with the
World Health Organization that just within the past year has began to test a new
vaccine called MenAfriVac that is strictly for the treatment of meningitis. There
has already been about 150 million people who have been vaccinated with this drug
and they are already seeing improvements. They are expecting this drug to within
the next few years completely get rid of the meningitis belt all together (Leach-
Kemon). For someone like me who has a true passion for helping and caring for
others this is revolutionary and just shows how it only takes one vaccine to being to
turn a country around, its just getting the people that medicine. There are multiple
aspects that make this vaccine much more reasonable, especially since it can be kept
in warm weather, it doesnt have to be chilled in a refrigerator for it to work.
Because they dont need the cooling aspect this vaccine can be cut almost in half
with the cost which will make it much more accessible to other hospitals in these
high risk areas (Leach-Kemon).
Something that is very controversial in medicine today is the amount of
vaccines that are administered to children under the age of five. In countries like
Africa there are about 19,000 children killed each year just from meningitis under
the age of 5 because they do not have the proper medicines while their body begins
to develop as a baby. While the United States it the complete opposite, as of now
there are thirty-six shots that are administered to children by the age of five years
old (U.S. Has The Most). For me growing up giving me a shot was like you were
trying to murder me, it would take nurses and my parents to calm me down, but
little did I know at that age those torture objects are things that keep me alive and
fighting diseases that could kill me. In todays society people will get any vaccine if
they thinks it will keep them from getting something so small. I remember when the
HPV vaccine came out everybody rushed their daughters to the doctors to get this
shot, and I was one of them. Then a few years later there were tests that came out
with many side effects of this drug, its all about learning the facts and educating
yourself. But there is also statistics working on showing that the less-educated
parents are the ones who are less likely to have their children vaccinated (U.S. Has
The Most).
Children in all parts of Africa might be dying from lack of vaccines but in
America there are many health problems from the excessive vaccines they are
receiving. The United States is ranked 34
th
in the world for mortalities under five
years old. The rate of Autism has also skyrocketed within the past 30 or so years. In
1970 the study showed that there was only 1 child per 10,000 that was diagnosed
with autism, then when the Center for Disease Control redid this testing in 2007
they found that there was 66 per 10,000 which is equal to 1 in 150 children, this is a
6,000% increase in numbers since the study only about 30 years before (U.S. Has
The Most).
For someone like me who has always been interested in the medical field
myself and has wanted to travel on a medical mission to Africa I truly did find a lot
of this information shocking and new for me. It doesnt just show how the United
States has it easy while Africa is struggling so much, it gives good examples of how
each country has their struggles but there is always a way to find a better side of
looking at things. There truly are many differences between the two countries such
as accessibility to medication and vaccines, security of jobs, just simply the location
that all play a part in the things that make these two countries so different for
nurses.







































Work Cited

Durning, Marijke. "The Challenges of Nursing in South Africa." NursingLink. N.p., n.d.
Web. 25 Mar. 2014.

Kinfu, Y, et al. "The Health Worker Shortage In Africa: Are Enough Physicians And
Nurses Being Trained?." Bulletin Of The World Health Organization 87.3
(2009): 225-230. CINAHL with Full Text. Web. 20 Feb. 2014.

Leach-Kemon, Katie. "Visualizing a Vaccine Breaking New Ground." Humanosphere
RSS. N.p., 24 Feb. 2014. Web. 25 Mar. 2014.

Magubane, Khanyi. "More Nurses to Be Trained in SA." More Nurses to Be Trained in
SA. N.p., 19 Dec. 2008. Web. 25 Mar. 2014

"U.S. Has The Most Aggressive Mandated Vaccine Schedule In The
World."PreventDiseases.com. N.p., 29 Mar. 2011. Web. 25 Mar. 2014