Poverty in Africa

The main cause of disability in Africa today is poverty. Unlike developed countries, diseases that are otherwise preventable such as polio, measles, tuberculosis, and meningitis continue to cause impairments and disability in Africa. This situation exists because governments are too poor to afford preventive measures for these diseases, or they have not prioritized prevention in their development agenda. Another cause of disability that is poverty related is malnutrition. Both severe malnutrition and undernutrition cause disability. Children either die or become disabled due to malnutrition and starvation simply because there is no food to eat. This situation is more common in wartorn parts of Africa (Chimedza, Susan, 20-25). Wars in such countries as Rwanda, Burundi, Angola, Congo, and Sierra Leone have resulted in significant numbers of injuries and disabilities. Because of wars, children and women suffer and become victims of death and disabilities. The United Nations estimates that 45 million land mines are buried in 11 African countries with Egypt, Angola, and Mozambique the most affected (Onasanya 24). This situation will cause more disability if not managed properly.

Lack of resources due to poverty and war, in combination with cultural values, means that service provisions for people with disabilities in most African countries are very limited. For example, less than 1 percent of the approximately 6 million children with disabilities in sub-Saharan Africa who are school age attend school (Chimedza, Mpofu, and Oakland 20). Until recently, the education of people with disabilities was left to missionaries, charitable organizations, and individual philanthropists with minimal support from governments. It is only recently that governments are beginning to participate in providing services to people with disabilities but still in a very limited way. Yet the education of people with disabilities in Africa has come a long way. In precolonial Africa, children with disabilities were educated with the rest of the community in the village under the tutorship of the elders. There were no special sessions or special institutions to educate children with disabilities. Everyone was integrated within the learning community. However, with the advent of postcolonial formal education, children with disabilities began to be educated in special schools isolated from the rest of the community. These usually were boarding mission schools. For a long time, this was the only model of special education available in Africa. Whereas special schools still exist and are used in most countries in Africa, most current practices favor the integration and inclusion models of special education.

It is important to note that the concepts of integration and inclusion as used in various countries in Africa may not necessarily mean the same both within and outside of Africa. For instance, the concept of integration in general suggests bringing the student with disabilities into the mainstream of the school system so that the student learns together with the regular students. Hence in the United States, the same concept is called mainstreaming. In integration—whether it be in schools or in communities—the focus is on changing the person with disabilities to fit into the ...