Chain Reaction (Intern Insights)
More than half of those in West Africa living with HIV/AIDS are women. The poverty rate is overwhelming. Violence against women is rampant, and available health services are few and far between. On top of all that, approximately one in every three children grows up without receiving an education. With two thirds of those non-attenders being girls, their illiteracy rate in most places doubles that of the boys. What’s interesting, though, is the intertwining of all these issues and how each can be traced back in some way to the region’s education crisis. It is by no means the sole cause of West Africa’s struggles but is a serious contributor nonetheless.
Statistics have shown that women who are educated tend to marry later and have fewer children. Infant mortality and child malnutrition are therefore halved, maternal deaths during childbirth decrease, and the spread of HIV/AIDS and other diseases is drastically reduced. Studies have also shown that every additional year of education can boost a woman’s eventual wages by 10% or more. This leads to an overall increase in economic productivity and better provision for West African families. It’s hard to grasp how much this one issue can trickle down and affect countless other cultural problems in its path. But if these women were more valued in their society and had proper schooling, it could improve the quality of their lives considerably as well as the population’s health in general.
I hope your heart breaks over these facts as much as mine does. Together, let’s lift the women of West Africa up in prayer. Let’s come to our Heavenly Father, trusting His power and relying on Him to take care of His daughters.
Lord, bring hurting women out of their current situations. Open doors so that they may receive an education. But more importantly, bring them in to a relationship with You. Allow them to see that no earthly want could ever surpass their spiritual need for a Savior.