Two weeks ago I had the pleasure of attending my first hackathon. I originally set out to analyse the given data in Python, however I quickly found Tableau/PowerBi to be the better tool in this case and so I refined my workings. The data was based on the medical situation in Africa which begs for immediate solutions.
For this analysis, I focused on the top 5 causes of death and the top 5 countries affected, to allow me provide as much detail as possible. Additionally, I also included Malaria in this analysis as it is a well known cause of death in Africa.
Observation:
From the data, we can see that Africa has had at least 80M deaths in the last twelve years from health related problems and Cardiovascular disease is ranked number one on the list. This is followed by HIV/AIDS, Neonatal disorders, Lower Respiratory Diseases, Diarrheal, etc.
The age group most at risk of death in Africa is 5 and under, followed by age 15-49 and then age 70+. If we consider the top 5 causes of death mentioned earlier, this order makes sense as children 5 and under are most likely to die from Neonatal disorders, Diarrheal, Lower Respiratory Diseases and Malaria while HIV/AIDS will most likely affect age 15-49 as they’re most sexually active. Lastly, age 70+ will be at risk of Cardiovascular Diseases and Lower Respiratory Diseases.
We can observe that in the last twelve years, Cardiovascular Diseases have experienced a 20% increase in death cases while HIV has experienced a 32% decrease in cases most likely due to Increased awareness. It can also be seen that Neonatal disorders and Malaria have seen a 12% and 31% respective decrease in deaths across the top 5 affected countries. Regardless, these cases are still very high and more needs to be done to curb them.
In this time, it can also be observed that Africa’s population has increased by 32% but spending on health in Africa (% of GDP) has reduced by 8%. In the top five countries that have experienced the most deaths, it can also be seen that the number of medical doctors has decreased by 16% as other continents have become more attractive for doctors to live and work. If we compare population size with the number of doctors available, we can see that Africa is underserved by doctors by a possible 94%.
Recommendations:
As an immediate response, the government should delegate more of its GDP to healthcare and this should include better remuneration packages for doctors as this will make Africa more competitive to attract more doctors to the region, It would also be beneficial to set up more research centers that focus on the most pressing diseases and this research should not only focus on general causes e.g. possible gene composition, but should be tailored to the accommodate cultural causes. For example, from the cardiovascular chart we can see that most countries in the top 5 affected are countries in North Africa. For me, this begs the question of whether there is a trigger in their culture/lifestyle choices as most regions have similar cultures.
More awareness should be created around HIV/AIDS and Malaria as these can easily be prevented if proper precautions are taken. While Malaria cannot be completely avoided, greater awareness will ensure that more people preserve their health through the use of insecticides and mosquito nets, amongst others.
As for Diarrheal, the main cause as far as Africa goes is the lack of access to clean water. More schemes should be put in place to ensure that more people have access to clean water. Additionally, there should be programs put in place to teach people (especially in lower class regions) about sanitation and it’s importance. This will also help tackle some lower respiratory disease cases that are sanitary related but on the other hand, the government would need to put laws in place to fight against pollution from factories, open burning of garbage, smoking, machinery (generators & vehicles) and chemicals e.g. in agriculture, as these are the leading causes of air pollution in Africa.
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