I chose to compare the country of Zambia in contrast to the Unites States.

I became
interested in Zambia after my daughter did a counseling internship there at a day camp for
children. According to Global Health Facts, the population of Zambia is 14,222,233 in contrast to
the United States which is 316,668,567. This means Zambias population is approximately 80%
smaller than the United States. Furthermore they state that the average age of the population in
Zambia is 16.7 years while in the United States it is 37.2 years of age (Global Health Facts,
2014).
Nurses and midwives in Zambia have a ratio of 7.8 nurses per 10,000 people, and in the
Unites States the ratio is 98.2 to 10,000 people. In Zambia there are 20 hospital beds for a
population of 10,000 people while in the Unites States there are 30 hospital beds per 10,000
people (GHF, 2014). I found the disparity here rather fascinating, there were so few nurses but
Zambia has 20 hospital beds for every 10,000 people while United States has 30 beds. Also it is
amazing that only 47% of births were delivered by a healthcare worker, and in the United States
the percentage is 99% (GHF, 2014).
There were 670,000 children under the age of 18 years old orphaned in Zambia but in the
United States there wasnt any data, this amount of children made me very sad (GHF, 2014).
The economy of Zambia was alarming when I saw the figures. The GDP for Zambia was 1,621
and United States was 48,112. The shocking fact was that 74.45% of their population lives on
less than $1.25 per day, and the United States had no data (GHF, 2014).
Malaria is a devastating disease in Zambia with 4,607.908 reported cases, and the United
States didnt have any data available probably because this isnt an issue in the Unites States at
this time (GHF, 2014).
The percentage of undernourished people within the population of Zambia was 43.1
percent and, once again, no data was found for the United States. The prevalence of obesity in
the adult female population 15 or older in Zambia was 2% and in the Unites States the
percentage was 48%. Also the percentage of female smokers in Zambia was just 4% and in the
Unites States it was 25% (GHF, 2014). For a developed country we certainly appear to be an
unhealthy population, I felt ashamed when I read these statistics.
I was pleased to see the global funding of $366,449,071 to help Zambia especially in
their fight against Aids, Malaria, and TB (GHF, 2014). Even though this is a lot of funding it
made me wonder if it will ever be enough to help them eradicate these diseases.
Finally I was struck by the simple knowledge that the life expectancy in Zambia for a
woman is 56 years old and for United States it is 81 years old. At my present age I would be
considered very elderly in that country. They do have a similarity in the fact that women live
longer in both countries. With two years longer for Zambia women versus 6 years for women in
the United States as compared to men (GHF, 2014).
I had mixed feelings reading these statistics I found them very interesting to learn about.
Also, at the same time, I was saddened by how unfair life can be just because you were born in a
certain location of the world.

Global Health Facts. (2014) Kaiser Family Foundation

Retreived from
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