What challenges face the rise of Africa in the 21st century? Essay

THE CHALLENGES FACING AFRICA IN THE 21ST CENTURY
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The Challenges Facing Africa In The 21st Century
Introduction
The African continent is home to over 1.2 billion people. It is the largest cobalt producer in the world, and approximately 30% of the earth’s remaining mineral resources CITATION Nat13 \l 1033 (National Geographic, 2013). Archeological findings have shown that Africa is one of the oldest populated continents. The oldest library was started in African by a woman in 859. All these facts paint a glossy picture of the continent. However, despite all these historical and current achievements, it is the most underdeveloped continent with permanent residents. 90% of all malaria cases worldwide occur in Africa, accounting for 24% of all child deaths in sub-Saharan Africa CITATION Nat13 \l 1033 (National Geographic, 2013). The continent is hardly developed even in the 21st century. Diseases, illiteracy, political instability, debt crisis, food security, and poverty have stifled development on the continent. While these are not only the challenges facing the continent, they have the highest impact. If only Africa could address them, it would become a developed continent in a few decades.
Diseases
Approximately 1.6 million Africans died of malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV-related illnesses in 2015 CITATION Tef17 \l 1033 (Pheage, 2017). These diseases are preventable and treatable, but they continue to kill many Africans. Globally, 50% of children under five who die of pneumonia, diarrhea, measles, HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria are in Africa. These statistics highlight the state of healthcare on the continent. In most countries, the available healthcare facilities are overwhelmed, and they also lack resources to meet demand. Most healthcare facilities lack enough qualified doctors and or nurses to meet demand. The facilities are too few and, in some cases, getting a bed is unlikely. Secondly, Africa has been grappling with Ebola. Ebola outbreak in most sub-Saharan African countries has left thousands of people dead because of the weak healthcare system. It takes the intervention of other countries to control the disease. When COVID-19 struck, it spread across the continent, and though the disease has had relatively lower fatality rates than other parts of the world, it quickly overwhelmed the healthcare system. A doctor in Kenya died because she could not get an ICU bed fast enough CITATION BBC201 \l 1033 (BBC, 2020). The country has 354 ICU beds expected to serve over 48 million people. Insurance penetration is also very low, with many countries having less than 1% insurance penetration CITATION Sta20 \l 1033 (Statista Research Department, 2020). All these problems compounded make diseases one of the major challenges facing Africa in the 21st century.
Political instability
African political instability can be traced back to pre-colonial Africa. When European powers scrambled and partitioned Africa for exploitation in the 19th century, they drew boundaries completely disregarding the people and the diverse cultures. The boundaries remained largely unchanged even after colonization. Some communities were split into two or more countries with different ideologies and cultures. For example, the Maasai are located in southern Kenya and Northern Tanzania. Bundling previously belligerent communities under one government was bound to bring conflict and tribalism. Tribalism has been a significant challenge for Africa as political leaders exploit the problem for political mileage, leading to major problems. For example, the Rwandan genocide in 1994 saw over 800,000 people dead when the Hutu extremists sought and killed Tutsi. Some other countries, like Somalia, grapple with clannism. Dividing communities and bundling them with others which they have historically been adversaries was bound to cause war. In most parts of the continent, most countries still struggle to achieve peace, which is paramount to development. Secondly, because of high illiteracy levels, tribalism, and identity politics, most countries in Africa have been led by dictators. These dictators commit human rights violations to continue staying in power and hardly do anything to build their countries. Though recently they have been ousted, the damage has already been done, and the countries will take a long time to develop.
Illiteracy
The statistics show that the literacy rate for sub-Saharan Africa was 65 % in 2017. In other words, one-third of the people aged 15 and above were unable to read and write CITATION Alp18 \l 1033 (Shiundu, 2018). Shiundu further noted that 27 % of the world’s illiterate people live in sub-Saharan Africa and that 17 countries in Africa still have literacy rates of 50 % and below. These statistics highlight the severity of illiteracy on the continent. The governments have not invested sufficiently in education. Even after colonization, most countries did not invest adequately in education. Illiteracy has been the reason the continent has been left far behind in technological advancement and unable to eliminate the other challenges it faces since they can all be eliminated. For example, low literacy levels enable the political class to exploit the people. The political class easily sways the people to turn against one another, which not only hurts them, but it works to their detriment. High illiteracy levels continue to flood the labor pool with a low skill set, which exacerbates the unemployment issue. Foreign investors are turned away by the low skillset, and the people are not living to the full of their economic potential. Literacy in Africa is held back by retrogressive cultural beliefs that have no place in the 21st century. For example, most families prefer to educate boys over girls. Additionally, while the girls attempt to succeed academically in a patriarchal society, they may be forced to marriage, undergo FGM, or be ordered to stay at home to allow the resources available to help the brothers go to school. Other retrogressive beliefs, such as family responsibilities, also stifle the education of children in Africa. For example, when the individual undergoes circumcision, he/she leaves school to carry on family economic activity, typically herding goats and cattle. Africa’s development hangs in the way it approaches this challenge, and though literacy levels have been increasing, the continent has a long way to go.
Debt Crisis
For a long time, Africa has been dependent on foreign aid. Countries have been borrowing from developed nations, the world bank, and the IMF to help enhance their economies. However, due to corruption and a leadership focusing on maintaining their lavish lifestyles, the continent has not been able to grow its economy relative to its debt. A country like Angola, which is the fifth-largest economy in the continent, has seen its debt grow, with DW (2020) projecting that it will balloon to “over 120% of gross domestic product (GDP).” Other countries like Zambia and Mozambique have already slipped into a debt crisis. The former defaulted on its debt payment in 2020, and Smith reports that even though the Coronavirus pandemic did infringe on its capability to repay the debt, the ground was set for this failure. Also, Smith reports that Zambia was downgraded by Fitch Ratings “from CC to Restricted Default.” Such scenes are expected to be repeated in the continent, with the economic dent felt by Covid-19 yet to take effect fully.
The sad and most discouraging thing about this debt crisis is that a significant percentage of the money that was borrowed was not used for its intended purposes. Governmen...