Global Health Data for West African Countries that Were Affected by Ebola Virus

Chosen Datasets

            For each country, the data that seemed important include the human development index (HDI), gross national income (GNI), the inequality-adjusted HDI, gender development index (GDI), the number of physicians per 1,000 people, the percentage of births supervised by skilled personnel, and the number of infant deaths witnessed in the countries based on the latest available statistics. The HDI places great importance on the development of individual citizens of the countries despite the economic factors while IHDI reviews the HDI in terms of its distribution among the citizens depending on their gender (UNDP, 2019). The GNI then helps in comparing the individual development to the country’s national income. The health data on physicians, births, and infant deaths give a brief overview of the state of the respective countries’ public health status, shedding light on some of the factors behind their susceptibility to the Ebola virus. The dataset is important in its portrayal of each country’s public health condition to evaluate the vulnerability of the population to epidemics.

Spreadsheet Visual Format

            To visualize the data, the two main formats selected for the spreadsheet are the column chart and clustered column and line charts. The column chart gives a simple representation of each country’s indicators, allowing for country-by-country comparison. For instance, the column chart for the GNI presents a visual comparison of this index among the nine countries. The clustered column and line charts, on the other hand, present an analysis of different sets of indices to compare how they impact each other and differ between countries. For instance, the clustered chart that compares the number of births supervised by skilled personnel to the number of infant deaths conveys a picture of how the latter indicator could be affected by the former. The combination of the two visual representation formats, then, gives a relatively comprehensive picture of the health data for each country and analyzes how they vary from one country to another.

The Relevance of the Dataset

            From the analyzed dataset, there are three major hypotheses that can be used to explain the trends and patterns visible from the dataset. The first is that countries with high HDI values also have relatively high GNI values. The second hypothesis is that many countries focus more on economic growth than on public health improvements such as increasing the ratio of physicians to patients. The third hypothesis is that the percentage of births overseen by skilled personnel does not lead to a reduction in the number of infant deaths. Table 1 shows the data whereas figures 1-5 show the charts obtained from their analysis.

Table 1: Health data

Country	HDI	GNI ($)	IHDI	GDI	Physician density	Skilled births (%)	Infant deaths
Cote d’Ivoire	0.492	3,481	0.311	0.841	2.326	60.9	52,312
Ghana	0.592	4,096	0.42	0.91	1.8	52.2	30,285
Guinea	0.459	1,516	0.306	0.81	0.788	45.6	28,853
Guinea-Bissau	0.455	1,552	0.276	-	2	52.4	3,510
Liberia	0.435	667	0.298	0.846	0.373	49.9	8,402
Mali	0.427	1,953	0.282	0.811	1.393	52	48,323
Nigeria	0.532	5,231	0.347	0.868	3.827	24.6	551,684
Sierra Leone	0.419	1,240	0.266	0.872	0.25	44.8	19,762
Senegal	0.505	2,384	0.34	0.911	0.692	64.6	17,251
Median	0.459	1953	0.306	0.857	1.393	52	28853

Figure 1: HDI, IHDI, & GDI indicators

Figure 2: GNI indicators for the countries

Figure 3: Physician density and HDI

Figure 4: HDI and GNI

Figure 5: Infant deaths and skilled birth comparison

The data reveals that the government and its branches should contribute to both the human and economic development of the citizens. It is the responsibility of the state to create a suitable environment for the economic growth of its citizens without neglecting their knowledge, health, and living standards. The dataset also reveals that countries with low indicator values are relatively more susceptible to health risks. For instance, countries that had the lowest percentages of births that skilled personnel attended to have the highest number of infant deaths – Nigeria, with a rate of 24.6%, reported a total of 551,684 infant deaths. Thus, the state should make plans for enhancing the health of its populace through the improvement of human development. It is also noteworthy from the dataset that economic progress does not necessarily lead to enhanced public health. For instance, Ghana has the second-best GNI of the nine countries with a value of $4,096 yet has a low density of physicians (1.8), meaning that the delivery of healthcare is still wanting. Thus, it is necessary for the civil society to not only enhance the economy of the country but also use the proceeds from the economic activities to enhance the health infrastructure.

References

UNDP. (2019). Human development index (HDI). Retrieved from United Nations Development Programme: http://hdr.undp.org/en/content/human-development-index-hdi