NSG 4074 Week 4 Project-Community Health Promotion Project Tana River County of Kenya Population’s Demographics

 The population size of the county is 547,201 as indicated by a census report in 2009. Out of the population, 48% are male and 52% are female. The number of young individuals makes up the largest part of the population with people under the age of 40 years taking 60% of the population and only 40% of the population being persons above 40 years of age. The county is characterized by a diverse sense of religion with 80% being those from the Christian religion, 16% Muslims and 4% other minute religions. Average family size is of 7 individuals per homestead. Moreover, the average age at marriage in the country is at 18 years.

Socioeconomics

 Diversity in social activities characterizes the county because of the deep African culture that has never been eroded. For instance, traditional events such as circumcision ceremonies and marriage bring people together hence ensuring that the social culture is always maintained in the county. Moreover, there are several economic activities carried out by the population in the county. Such activities include small-scale farming, pastoralism, operating business, fishing, mining and quarrying and other small-scale economic activities (Martin, 2012).

Environmental hazards

 Living around Tana River that is highly polluted as a result of illegal dumping from industries upstream, the locals are always at great risk of contracting water-related diseases. Moreover, on average, people tend to become sickly because of air-related illnesses after reaching only 30 years of age because of the unregulated mining and quarrying activities in the area that make the air unhealthy for human consumption. Again, the quarried land usually become dangerous as people fall into them at night causing injuries or deaths in severe instances (Smalley & Corbera, 2012). Moreover, when these pits become filled with rainwater and can cause drawing to people who may stumble into them.

Access to healthcare

 The underdevelopment of the facilities in the area makes it hard for individuals to access quality healthcare in the area. Moreover, poor quality of education, as well as the number of those with formal education, has been the main reason for the backwardness of the county with respect to healthcare standards. It is because of this that the locals are forced to travel long distances to the nearest counties to find healthcare services.

Mortality and morbidity risk factor of the population 

Various mortality and morbidity risk factors affect the population significantly in various ways. One of the mortality and morbidity risk factors is the extreme poverty levels of the individuals in the county (Ngaina et al., 2014). As a result, they cannot afford basic healthcare services and this increase the mortality rate in the county. Worst still, those essential health care services are not found in the county and this there makes them travel long distances to acquire them. Where the individuals do not put effort to obtain the health services their lives will be at stake, and this usually increases the morbidity and mortality rates.

NSG 4074 Week 4 Project-Community Health Promotion Project

Moreover, the airborne illnesses as a result of air pollution from quarrying activities also place them at risks of dying at tender ages. Finally, the other morbidity and mortality risk factor is ignorance of the individuals on the illnesses that affect them. Considerable large populations of individuals do not seek medical advice from health specialists but instead depend on traditional medicines. As a result, they put their lives in danger as in most cases such medications are not effective.

There are many health risk factors affecting the people of Tana River County One of the risk factors is an unbalanced diet. The district is affected by inadequate rainfall resulting in lack of food. Despite the fact that there is water for irrigation, poor drainage results in seasonal flooding that wash away farms, cattle, and homes. Therefore, an unbalanced diet is attributed to the lack of enough food. This factor encourages nutrition-related diseases such as rickets, kwashiorkor, anemia, and marasmus. Another risk factor is forced marriage. The county is known for forced marriages. This is risky for the health of girls as the men marrying them may be suffering from contagious infections. For instance, a teenage girl will be forcefully married to a 45-year-old man. Such a man may be suffering from a dangerous infection like HIV/AIDS. This puts the health of the girl of contracting the illness.

Moreover, aging is a health risk factor in the county. Aging is associated with a number of health issues. Most part o