Middle School
Worksheets
Rehema's Story: Health Crises in Tanzania
Tanzania, or the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in Africa. It was formed in 1964 as a merger between Tanganyika and Zanzibar. Tanzania borders the Indian Ocean. Its neighbors include Mozambique, Kenya, Malawi, Uganda, and Zambia. The size of Tanzania is said to be about twice that of California. The CIA states that, as of 2013, about 48 million people live in Tanzania. Many of the countries around Tanzania are in conflict, but Tanzania has experienced peace. That's the good news. Unfortunately, the country owes a lot of money and its economy suffers because of that. Therefore, many of the people are poor and their health suffers.
In fact, the World Health Organization lists the general health of the people of Tanzania as poor. It also states that one out of seven children dies in Tanzania before reaching the age of five. The death of that many children is a huge problem in the country. The nutritional and medical needs of pregnant women, nursing mothers, and infants under two especially need to be addressed.
Rehema is a mother in Tanzania. She knows about these problems firsthand. She lost her oldest son to malaria. Her sister also lost a child, but to AIDS. Both diseases are problems in Tanzania. About 5.6% of adults are infected with HIV/AIDS. About two million children have no parents because of AIDS. In addition, many children are born ill because of mother-to-child transmission. Malaria is the big killer of children under five in Tanzania, according to the World Health Organization. The sadness of it all to Rehema is that these life-threatening diseases that kill so many children are easily prevented. As a result of these early deaths, life expectancy is only 53 years in Tanzania.
