Djibouti is a coastal country located in the horn of Africa. In 2017, the country’s population was 1.1 million. However, despite the issues the country faces, there have also been recent major achievements of Healthcare in Djibouti.

Battles of Healthcare in Djibouti

Djibouti battles occasional natural disasters and receives many refugees from neighboring countries. These two challenges increase the displacement of people. As a result, this exposes them to different dangerous diseases and also leads to uneven health care accessibility. As reported by Reliefweb, regular measles outbreaks were recorded in 2018 and 2019 in Djibouti City. Additionally, 30,304 malaria cases were reported in the first half of 2019. The country’s health sector budget takes 6.73% of the government’s expenditures. The health sector focused on improving health care accessibility in rural areas, distribution of vaccines, maternal services to mothers and children and universal health coverage in the country.

From Issues to Achievements

To go on, Djibouti faces high hazards like consistent extended periods of droughts and occasional floods. Towards the end of 2019, DownToEarth reported that Djibouti faced floods that displaced around 250,000 people in the capital city. As said by the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery, approximately 33% of the Djiboutian population live in areas of high hazard risk. Additionally, Djibouti faces a long time of droughts. There is a shortage of enough water which leads to the droughts and over-exploitation of underground water resources. Because of these natural disasters, there are poor sanitation and pollution-related diseases, dehydration and malnutrition. In response to this problem, the government established a Disaster Risk Management program. It has helped in sensitizing the public, better planning for resource management and preparing for better responses towards disasters. Fortunately, these steps will improve healthcare in Djibouti for its people as well.

More Major Achievements

Furthermore, Djibouti is one of the countries that receive high numbers of refugees in Africa. These refugees are mainly from Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia and Yemen. In May 2019, the World Bank released an additional $6 million towards the Improving Health Sector Performance Project in Djibouti. This program has been operating since 2013, and they have helped 143,000 women and children access essential health care services. These services are able to control communicable diseases like HIV and Tuberculosis. Additionally, In 2017, Action Africa Help International, UNHCR and the Government of Djibouti started the project Protection and Assistance to Refugees in Djibouti. The project provided essential health care to about 26, 915 refugees and asylum seekers. These interventions paid off when UNHCR reported that 100% of the refugees had access to primary health care services at the end of 2019.

Overall, Djibouti faces many challenges that affect the health of the population. However, it is important to be aware of the steps being taken to improve the health of the population. By addressing the problems caused by natural disasters and population displacement, all of these efforts have improved healthcare in Djibouti.

 

– Renova Uwingabire

Photo: Flickr