Essay Networks

There are countries in Africa that all vary in economic, human, environmental, and political growth. There are certain things that a country has to achieve in order to be able to sustain growth in all of those areas. Three countries are a good example in which the country is doing well, moderately, and very poorly. Mozambique is doing very poorly, Gabon is doing relatively well, and Uganda is doing moderately. Education is the first thing that a country has to achieve. Once they attain education, then they may work on other areas such as governmental issues. Then, when the country has a secure government and laws, they may go to health care, or economical issues. None of these things would be able to happen if the country wasn’t adequate in education.

I think the country in Africa that is most likely to have sustainable growth is Gabon. The literacy rate in Gabon is 61%. This isn’t as high as the US or Europe, but it is one of the highest in Africa. If the country has high education, then they may know what to do to make their country improve. Gabon has one of the highest education levels, and also has one of the highest health care systems. The education may have been a factor of this. Also, Gabon is one of the most urbanized countries in Africa. The government is under control, which leads, again to having high education. Gabon has one of the world’s finest virgin rainforests. They could learn to use this to their advantage. It is possible that they could make part of the rainforest into a national park. This would be benefiting to the whole country. It would give employment to more people, save scarce wildlife, and the country could use the money they receive as profit. Some of the money would pay the people, and the rest would go to making the country prosper. They could make fields on where to concentrate, such as health care, education, and government. Since it is already urbanized, they can concentrate on saving energy and not polluting. The population in Gabon is 1.2 million, which is very little. The infant mortality rate is 94 per 1 000 people. With such a little population, this is very high. Doctors are pretty good, but can be better. The GNP per capita is $3,500. This is rather high for all of Africa. The cause of this is the low population and oil deposits. Many of the countries have a relatively high amount of natural minerals, and most are unused. Gabon has large unexploited deposits of uranium, manganese, and iron ore. It would benefit the country to make use of these, but moderately. Overall, I think Gabon has the best chance of becoming a sustainable country. It is doing relatively well in the areas of education, and health care, but could boost in using their natural forests and minerals.

The country, which is worst off in achieving sustainable growth is Mozambique. It doesn’t have the essential, and many other requirements, in even almost becoming sustainable. The literacy rate is 33%, which is horribly low. Out of ten people, three can read; this is the main reason why Mozambique isn’t prospering. There was a devastating civil war, which was a cause of nearly all schools closing. The government as promised to focus on rebuilding them, but not much has been done. Health care is horrible; there is one doctor per 50,000 people. Tuberculosis, gastro enteric infections, and pneumonia are the leading causes of death. All these could be prevented with vaccinations. Doctors would tremendously help the country. The GNP per capita is 80$. This is also very low. Mozambique could build better transportation systems, which would help the economy. If sufficient roads were built, then people could have access to the mineral reserves. This would give more people employment and money. Also, the country could try to improve industrialization and trade; this would be its only chance of becoming a better and sustainable country. There is bad land with much flooding and droughts that they country cannot make money off of, and it doesn’t have natural resources. Its last resort would be to turn to industrializing their country. Unfortunately, even if they get the infrastructure and investment, it still wouldn’t work because they are lacking the education to produce these ideas into actual events.

The country that is fourth on my list is Uganda. It is doing moderately in achieving sustainable growth. They have a chance of improving their nation. Many countries in Africa don’t even have a chance of achieving that goal, but Uganda does. The literacy rate is 62%, which still isn’t great, but better than many countries. They have even better chances, because under President Museveni, the country has done things in order to rebuild their economy and democracy. This is good to hear, because it means that the

country knows that they have problems, and are trying to fix them. They have been able to maintain peace for almost twenty years, which is an improvement. Their government shouldn’t make school cost money, because the people are already relatively poor (200$ GNP). If the schools cost money, the parents would rather make the children work at home. There are money things that they country can improve on, and they are already trying to rebuild it. So, they are slowly and gradually getting better. If they continue this gradual ascending, then they have a good chance of achieving sustainable growth.

UN Recommendations

Gabon is on its way to becoming a country that has sustainable growth in economical, governmental, and environmental areas. Their government has it under control, and it is one of the most urbanized countries in Africa. This means that they have efficient road systems, sewage, and factories. They need just little help from us, and could become very successful. For example, there are large amounts of unexploited deposits of uranium, manganese, and iron ore. The people of Gabon don’t mine the minerals. When we help them, Gabon could make a lot of money. They will get into the trading industry, as soon as we get them started. This would benefit the country greatly. Since they have little farming land, this would suit them very well. They would trade the iron, oil, and uranium for food. Also, Gabon will use the money to support education. There aren’t enough doctors in Gabon, and the leading causes of death are things that could be prevented if more people got educated and became doctors. As more doctors come, the population of Gabon will increase. This will be good, as long as it doesn’t overpopulate too quickly. So we will also need to ensure gradual and safe population climbing. There isn’t really a lot of work we need to do, compared to other countries such as Mozambique. And when we help them, they will do very well.

On the other hand, Mozambique will need a lot of working on. We will first need to start an educating system there. Once that gets taken care of, we will need to support them in getting doctors. Their health care is very bad, and we will need to supply nurses for a period of time. We should educate their people about health care and hygiene. This will improve living conditions greatly. There are perennial floods and droughts in Mozambique, and when we help to protect the land from the erosion, this will start to result in farmable land. Mozambique doesn’t have sufficient roads, which block access to the modest mineral reserves. This, and the farming, is going to be two ways, which Mozambique will make most of its money. Still, other things are troubling the country, but once we accomplish these tasks, other things will be much easier to handle. Our help will steadily lead Mozambique to become a more stable country.

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