As a consequence of Ethiopia being shoulder high in debt, the poorer parts of the country suffer. A health service is non-existent. Whereas we would go to the hospital with a broken arm and have it set in plaster and a sling for free, Ethiopians would probably have to set it properly themselves and wear wooden splints to stop movement and get on with trying to earn the pitying amount of money they would need to survive. And if they could get to a hospital, they would be more than likely to catch something fatal from the people there and would have to wait for many, many hours to be seen. As proof of this, 1/5 of all people in Ethiopia have absolutely no access to any form of modern health care, such as x-rays, scans etc. The health care situation in many developing countries is abysmal. Birth control is an unknown quantity and in some religions is forbidden, thus spreading diseases such as HIV and Aids. This is proven by the fact that in the entire world, 15 million people are HIV positive, over 80% of these, in developing countries, such as Ethiopia. The range in the ages of Life Expectancy is 25 years; Ethiopians are expected to live to 52, whereas English people should live to the ripe old age of 77. This is also contributed to by the administration of inoculations. People in the U.K are recommended to receive jabs against tuberculosis, meningitis, measles, mumps and many more. Africans will not have access to any of these injections so more people would die of disease caused by uncleanliness and dire living conditions.
This brings me onto the subject of water, or lack of it. In the U.K every house has basic plumbing; toilet, bath/shower, running hot/cold water etc. In Ethiopia, around 3/5 of all people have no access to any of the afore mentioned amenities. 1/3 of people having no access to pure, clean water. A bathtub would be a completely baffling object to an Ethiopian. A massive 5 million people die every year from illnesses related to unclean water, which shows the urgent need for wells to be built in developing countries. Parents will walk miles just to find water, to stop their children from literally dying of thirst. Sometimes even risking their lives to get water. In the U.K. situations like that never occur, ever. We cannot imagine what it would be like, not knowing when you were next going to find a drink for your children, and, if you did find some water, if it would cause the death of your children anyway. Sewage systems are not in use in Ethiopia, an example of an African sewer is a ditch running down the middle of a path with a make shift bridge to walk across it. This would cause disease to fester and to be spread instantly from house to house. Disease carrying flies, rats and bugs would be attracted by the smells and could easily wipe out whole families at a time. Sewerage systems in the U.K are an entirely different kettle of fish. They are a complex route of underground tunnels that keep human excrement, and disease, closely confined and are not a bother to anyone. Charities, such as CAFOD, campaign to raise money to build fresh, clean water supplies and sewerage systems in L.E.D.C’s. They do raise enough money to build some, but they could never get enough cash to give every village a water well or pump. It is just not feasible. This shows us that the United Kingdom is an overall, more hygienic, better-supplied and funded country than Ethiopia.
Food is a desperate situation in developing countries, both the providing it for their own people, and selling it to make money. Because of the debt repayments Ethiopia cannot afford to import extra food. This means the country has to supply it’s own food, and produce enough to make a slight bit of money by the way of exports, to pay of the debt interest. It is a vicious circle. The U.K. has a very good import/export system and has more than enough food to supply all of its occupants. The English people have a daily calorie intake of 3,200. To be a healthy, fit person you only need 2,400 calories. By contrast, Ethiopians, if they’re lucky, will get 1, 610. The difference in food supplication and distribution in Ethiopia is the complete opposite to that of the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom frequently has surplus food stores whereas Ethiopia suffers from famine and drought. This may be because of the differing climates, the heat and drought in Africa and the cool, wet climate of England, makes growing crops a different business in each. It is harder to grow crops in hard, dry ground than it is in soft, damp ground. Also if a severe drought occurs, whole crops could be destroyed because of lack of water. Causing severe famine in the surrounding areas, or ever nation-wide.
Full education in Ethiopia is a luxury for many children. As children are required to work from a very young age, schooling is not a possibility. Schools that require fees are not often an option at all, but even free schools have very few children attending over a certain age. It is estimated that 1/5 of all children do not attend to the end of primary school. On the other hand, in England, it compulsory that we attend school from the age of 5 to the age of 16, right through primary and secondary school. The situation may be like it is in Ethiopia because families do not have enough money to hire workers so children have to help by working, and do whatever they can to earn a small amount of money to buy the food and water for the family.
Large businesses have taken over a vast majority of land for growing crops for exports. The land was before rented by Ethiopian families who were just about managing to make enough food for themselves, and enough money to buy water and other foodstuffs. The land was then sold off without the knowledge or permission of the resident families, who could do nothing but stand at the sidelines and watch while all they had worked for was pulled down around their feet. A lot of the land is used for growing “cash crops” which are exported straight away, leaving the local areas with nothing. The money made from these cash crops is used to pay off the debts, so is not benefiting any of the African people at all. When drought and crop failures happen in the United Kingdom, the government will buy food off of other countries not affected by drought. In L.E.D.C’s this can’t happen because they have no money with which to buy extra food because they are not gaining any from exporting food because there is a drought.
In conclusion, I can say that, the United Kingdom is definitely more economically developed compared to Ethiopia. We may think we have life hard in England, but that is nothing compared to the struggles and hardships of Ethiopian civilians. Ethiopia is most definitely a Less Economically Developed Country.
By Samantha Espin. 9A.
