Public Health Problems in Nigeria

MALARIA AND MEASLES AS PUBLIC HEALTH PROBLEMS

Malaria "is the world's most important infectious disease, affecting more than a hundred million people each year. In some areas, it kills nearly 10 percent of the population in childhood" (Diamond, 1989, p. 8). Malaria, along with blindness, yaws, leprosy, sleeping sickness, and worm infections are major public health problems in Nigeria (Paxton, 1989).

Measles is an acute, contagious viral disease (Schoenbaum, 1985). Infestation of the disease is caused by tapeworms, whcih may be spread by livestock. While measles is a public health problem in Nigeria, it is not a problem of the scope and significance of the type posed to the country by malaria and the other diseases indicated above.

NUTRITIONAL DEFICIENCIES, CULTURAL AND AGRICULTURAL

PRACTICES, AND PUBLIC HEALTH IN NIGERIA

Most tropical diseases are endemic in Nigeria (Paxton, 1989). Agricultural practices involving the handling of livestock contribute to the spread of diseases throughout the

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3.7 times as high as the 1.9 rate for the United States, which is average for the western industrialized countries. The rapid and all but unchecked population growth in Nigeria has placed significant stress on the Nigerian society. The country has been hard put to develop workable and effectivepublic health policies as a result of this rapid population growth, which is further aggravated by the country's urbanization. Urbanization has proceeded in Nigeria at a fast pace. In 1989, 73 percent of the country's population lived in cities of 500,000 population or larger, and 27 percent lived in the country's largest cityLagos. WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE TO ERADICATEMALARIA AND MEASLES IN NIGERIA Nigeria needs to expand the scope of it national program for the eradication of preventable diseases. The empahsis in the existing national program is on smallpox, malaria, and tuberculosis. The federal government also needs to expand its corps of public health inspectors to increase the housetohouse inspection effort to detect environmental sanitation problems. Ground water cleanup is one of the major requirements in this context. Although groundwater contamination is an emotional issue which rouses high passions on all sides o
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2142
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page)