Background
One of these hotbeds of backwardness in comparison with the rest of the world in the regions of West Africa. They are clearly distinguished by the diversity, scale and interweaving of social problems. In West Africa, long-term unfavorable population trends are combined with appalling poverty, large income inequality, an extremely unfavorable situation in health care, education, high unemployment and many other social problems. To solve them, special strategies and ways should be applied by the government of the state to help the population.
Poverty
Despite the development of modern society and all its achievements, poverty remains one of the global problems of the African population. Statistics show that millions of people die from hunger and poverty every year (). There is a fairly high percentage of the population living below the poverty line on the African continent. There are a number of very important reasons for this. One of them is the colonial past of African countries. Also, there is a low level of literacy and education, low-paid unskilled labour. Demographic factors such as a high birth rate and a large number of young able-bodied people are of great importance. Constant droughts and natural disasters are a normal phenomenon on the continent, significantly exacerbating the food problem in the region and leading to a significant increase in prices for necessary food products. These problems not only have a negative impact on the level of poverty and poverty of the population of the African continent, but also largely determine the vector of further development of the region in various spheres.
Poverty will not be reduced automatically, only based on economic growth. Political will is needed to solve the most important task – the development and implementation of a new policy of distributive relations that prevents discrimination against the poor in their access to resources, such as jobs and income. On the other hand, it is necessary to provide a system of social protection of the population. The State social protection system includes: pension benefits, unemployment benefits, benefits for large families.
Diseases
The inevitable consequence of unfavorable demographic trends in sub-Saharan Africa, the low income level of both States and the majority of the population is the extreme strain that the social infrastructure of the region and, above all, the health sector is experiencing. In addition, the African continent is experiencing difficulties in its efforts to meet the needs of a growing population using limited resources (Coates et al. 265). As a result, the region is the epicenter of many dangerous diseases and, above all, AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.
The management of the healthcare system, as well as the process of forming a healthy society as a whole, largely depends on the degree of scientific understanding of the entire set of factors and processes in this area. The transformation of beliefs and values regarding health can play a crucial role in solving the problem of morbidity. Health is provided by the main social institutions-healthcare and medicine. They formulate the fundamental categories of health, disease; the concept of the health of the nation is built; the tactics of achieving the set goals are determined. That is why it is also worth paying careful attention to these aspects of people’s lives.
Unemployment
Unemployment is a serious problem in West Africa. Unemployment in the region has a number of features that further exacerbate the problem of unemployment. In African countries, unemployment is mostly stagnant. Unlike most regions of the developing world, male unemployment exceeds female unemployment. Among young people, unemployment is several times higher than among middle-aged people (Awad 253). It should be added to the above that the available international statistics on the level and characteristics of unemployment do not fully reflect the real situation with unemployment. On the one hand, along with the actual unemployment in the region, underemployment has become widespread. On the other hand, employment in the shadow sector of the regional economy has reached a significant scale.
Investment in education related to technology and innovation, which can be a solution to the problem of unemployment, is particularly limited. There are also restrictions on the development of skills that meet the needs of the labor market and contribute to productivity growth. Meanwhile, the latter is the key to a steady increase in living standards and an increase in real incomes. The strategy of combating unemployment consists of three main directions: the development of social policy, which is aimed at creating social guarantees for the unemployed, these measures can be called passive, the development of macroeconomic policy, involving the use of monetary and other instruments, is an indirect regulation and the development of employment policy, including the use of flexible forms of employment.
Teenage-Pregnancies
Early onset of sexual activity, low level of knowledge in this area and poor awareness of contraceptive methods often lead to young motherhood. Teenage pregnancy is a dysfunctional phenomenon; this problem is not only medical, but also psychological and economic. Kassa et al. (14) point out that almost one-fifth of adolescents become pregnant in Africa. The early start of sexual relations, combined with a low level of knowledge in this field, poor awareness of the means and methods of contraception and their insufficient use, leads to an increase in the number of pregnancies among adolescents. As a result, it leads to an increase in the number of abortions, unfavorable birth outcomes and deterioration of adolescent reproductive health.
Adolescence is a critical period in which knowledge and skills are acquired, as well as values that can be preserved for life. Defects in sex education and early sexual debut are the leading cause of pregnancy in adolescence. That is why it is necessary to pay great attention to the sexual education of both young women and men. I would also advise the state to ensure access to safe and effective methods of contraception for adolescents.
Young Girls Early Marriages and Divorces
Girls in African countries are usually married very early. As a result, they cannot finish school and break out of the vicious circle of poverty, violence and social ostracism. Despite the fact that many families believe that child marriages bring financial benefits, this often only worsens the situation. The majority of young men and women who have formed early marriage and family relationships still have the process of forming self-awareness. Almost not ready for an independent life, they immediately face a huge mass of problems, such as housekeeping, finding a job to strengthen the financial situation of the family, the complexity of social relations that they enter into, breaking away from their parents.
Today, marriage ceremonies are changing, experiencing the influence of the West, but still local traditions are preserved among ethnic groups. Divorce is presented as a socially acceptable phenomenon, although it is not very common. The reason for this can be considered that the marriage has the character of a permanent association, in some cases longer than a lifetime one. For the dissolution of a marriage, a court permit is required as part of the judicial process.
I believe that educational work should be carried out with children and parents, such as lectures on the prevention of early marriage. And if there are positive results, after it is carried out, I assume that through joint efforts with teachers and parents of teenagers, it will be possible to reduce the number of such cases. Family planning programs can also be introduced and the political will must be shown to implement them and overcome numerous barriers, such as psychological barriers, confidentiality and financial restrictions (Avogo and Somefun 9). These barriers are becoming crucial for young people when accessing reproductive health services.
Arranged and Forced Marriage
Despite the fact that forced marriage is now widely condemned by the international community, forced marriage still occurs in various cultures around the world, especially in some parts of Africa. The well-being of the family, and not of an individual, is the main goal of arranged marriages (Karandashev 245). The United Nations considers forced marriage as a form of violation of human rights, since it violates the principle of individual freedom and autonomy.
Forced marriages undermine and discredit the very institution of marriage. Early marriages bring with them a restriction in education for girls, problems with employment and a threat to health. First of all, it is necessary to inform and educate the population about the dangers of early marriages. People should understand that there are no cultural or religious reasons to marry off little girls. Also, the state can, as it were, keep children in school by providing them with free food, transport and personal hygiene items. In this case, families feel that they can send girls to school, where they will receive more support and incentives than at home.
Young Adult Mortality and Low Life-Expectancy
The low standard of living and medical care, diseases determine the high mortality and low life expectancy of Africans. Despite the increase in the mortality rate and a decrease in life expectancy in a number of African countries, the general trend of reducing this indicator in the continent as a whole remains associated with the spread of HIV infection. The higher rates of mortality reduction in Africa compared to developed countries are associated with a young age structure of the population; therefore, at the age of 40, an African is already considered an elderly person.
It is necessary to improve medical services for the population and improve water supply and sewerage systems, which will contribute to reducing the overall mortality rate and increasing the life expectancy of the African population. Increasing the coverage of the population with medical examinations and vaccination, providing medical institutions with equipment and medicines play an important role in extending the life expectancy of the population.
Malnutrition
Malnutrition is an acute problem in African countries. People do not have enough food due to low income and lack of assistance from the state. Many African countries have been fighting with hunger since 1990, but achieved have not achieved significant results (Otekunrin 86). The economies of the countries of the region are experiencing long-term crises. At the same time, natural disasters periodically hit Africa, many states have to repel the attacks of terrorist groups and cope with the flows of refugees.
To overcome hunger and malnutrition, the government must develop a long-term strategy for ensuring food security in the countries of the region. To boost the country’s economy, it is necessary to provide land to local peasants so that they grow crops for local consumption and sale to neighboring countries. This will help to improve their financial situation, thereby providing their families with food.
Prostitution and Sex-Trafficking
One of the types of human rights violations in the civilized world is human trafficking. The low level of education and the unavailability of information from the image of many African citizens abroad as countries of universal prosperity, so a significant number of Africans want to get to Europe and the Gulf countries to earn money. And this is actively used by enterprising businessmen who have created a highly profitable and well-established business based on human sex trafficking.
The scale of human trafficking requires legislators to develop ways to counter this manifestation, and they require solving the problems of modern legislation. The reasons for the spread of prostitution are the low economic standard of living of the population. In Ivory Coast, the operation of brothels is allowed. Such commercial sexual relations are one of the main causes of the spread of AIDS in Africa. To avoid these problems, it is necessary to educate people that it is necessary to avoid tempting offers of random or familiar people about work, study or marriage abroad and refuse offers of quick, easy and big earnings.
Female Circumcision
In African countries, since ancient times, there has been a method that makes a woman submissive and incapable of cheating, which is called circumcision. It is amazing, but this is not an outdated tradition, this horror is happening at present. Mpofu et al. (1) mention that “in Africa an estimated 101 million girls above the age of 10 years have undergone the procedure with an estimated 3 million being at risk of undergoing FC each year.” Uncircumcised girls are often considered depraved, and it becomes almost impossible for them to get married.
If there is a strong denial of the use of any measures against female circumcision, it is possible to offer alternative initiation rituals: as before, the ceremony is held, embodying the transition of girls to the category of women, without causing physical damage. However, the path to an alternative ritual is long, it may take years before it is possible to convince the inhabitants of a particular village.
Poor Education
More than other continents, Africa needs to revise its educational systems. Compulsory primary education has been introduced only in a few of the regions. The situation is even worse with secondary education: in most African countries, a very small number of young people of the corresponding age group acquire secondary education. Not everyone has the opportunity to continue their studies, since schools are rarely available outside of cities, and for nomadic tribes they do not exist at all.
It is based on awareness of the importance of education and its connection with economic development and universal cultural values that a new strategy should be built to improve the level of education of the population. It is important to define the concept of education and not to support its running systems and structures. Education has an essential role in the process of socio-economic and socio-cultural development (Pande 71). It should serve some purpose, and it is up to the State and the Africans themselves to determine this goal. If education is the key to economic development, it plays an equally important role in determining the values that will transform Africa into a united, dynamic and future-oriented contingent.
Works Cited
Avogo, Winfred A., and Oluwaseyi Somefun. “Early Marriage, Cohabitation, and Childbearing in West Africa.” Journal of Environmental and Public Health 2019, 2019.
Awad, Atif. “Economic Globalisation and Youth Unemployment-Evidence from African Countries.” International Economic Journal, vol. 33, no. 2, 2019, pp. 252-269.
Coates, Sarah J., et al. “The Effects of Climate Change on Human Health in Africa, a Dermatologic Perspective: A Report From the International Society of Dermatology Climate Change Committee.” International Journal of Dermatology, vol. 59, no. 3, 2020, pp. 265-278.
Karandashev, Victor. “Marriage and Love in Africa in the Twentieth Century.” Romantic Love in Cultural Contexts. Springer, Cham, 2017, pp. 233-248.
Kassa, Getachew Mullu, et al. “Prevalence and Determinants of Adolescent Pregnancy in Africa: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.” Reproductive Health, vol. 15, no. 1, 2018, pp. 1-17.
Mpofu, Sibonginkosi, et al. “The Relation of Female Circumcision to Sexual Behavior in Kenya and Nigeria.” Women & Health, vol. 57, no. 7, 2017, pp. 757-774.
Otekunrin, Olutosin Ademola, et al. “Three Decades of Fighting Against Hunger in Africa: Progress, Challenges and Opportunities.” World Nutrition, vol. 11, no. 3, 2020, pp. 86-111.
Pande, Suresh Kumar. “Enhancing Learning Opportunities Through Development of Open and Distance Education in Africa.” Optimizing Open and Distance Learning in Higher Education Institutions. IGI Global, 2018, pp. 71-95.