We are not Helpless-1

How long will it take for us to change the way things are generally done on our continent-Africa?
We travel and see how things are done elsewhere, and we are so happy to pose for pictures against backgrounds and beautiful scenery that have been maintained by people-yes people like you and I. It could be as simple as regular and appropriate cleaning-nothing too hi-tech. It could be as mundane as the right person being at the point of duty at the right time. It could be just as costly as a right attitude to work, to community and to some sense of pride in collective ownership. Our people suffer needless pains for lack of basic items of life and the paradox is our great endowment in resources-human and natural resources in Africa.

Roads are often constructed without proper drainage and are usually of poor quality, and in few months down the line are washed off by rain with resultant road craters that constitute a major cause of road traffic crashes and attendant crippling injuries, loss of lives and property. A majority of forensic autopsies I perform every week is on road traffic crashes with eminently preventable environmental components being a significant causative factor. What technology do we need to acquire in order to place simple road signs on our major roads? Recently, in a major road that links to my place of work, some government officials thought it fit to place a big bump across the double lane as a speed breaker, and this was done overnight, literally, without any warning or signs! I was told the other day that an unsuspecting driver ran over the obstacle and somersaulted. Personally, my vehicle was shaken to the very last bolt when I went over it at night as I had no prior idea about the obstacle. Other road users continue to tell their own painful encounter with what should have been a safety measure. All my effort to draw attention to the need for a warning sign has been futile so far but I'm not giving up. Unfortunately no one seems to take responsibility, and no one is held responsible and we still hope to sustain a viable society in this fashion?

Our people are dying more from preventable causes than from natural diseases. While we attend local and international conferences to listen to, or present highfalutin researches or breakthroughs in medicine and science, all our people are asking for is availability of basic health facilities, essential drugs and health personnel to cater for them. I've seen on my autopsy table children who simply died of malnutrition and childhood diseases because of poverty and lack of any primary care facilities nearest to them before complications set in and eventual presentation at the city hospital where the child was essentially certified dead. In my practice so far, I'm yet to witness a request for autopsy record or mortality data by relevant government officials or policy makers in government interested in knowing what kills our people or why they die. Our reports gather dust on our shelves as we lament daily about how cheap death has become and the enormous waste of lives which occurs daily. Are we just going to "mind our business" and "do our work" and pass the "legacy" to our children for a vicious cycle or are we going to leave the "comfort" of our offices and do something within our cycle of influence for a positive change? If you can read this blog, you've been a great investment by your families and communities as majority of our people can neither read nor write and have no access, whatsoever, to any ICT. Are we going to ignore the anomalies and carry on with a stamp of personal "survival" or are we going to do something today in our little corner to provoke a change knowing that ultimately our success and survival as a people is tied to the success of our neighbours and our larger society? I believe we are not helpless.