User talk:Brookeethleen

Welcome!

Hello,, and welcome to Wikipedia! I hope you like the place and decide to stay.

There's a page about creating articles you may want to read called Your first article. If you are stuck, and looking for help, please come to the New contributors' help page, where experienced Wikipedians can answer any queries you have! Or, you can just type   on this page, and someone will show up shortly to answer your questions. Here are a few other good links for newcomers: I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Please sign your name on talk pages using four tildes ( ~ ); this will automatically produce your name and the date. If you have any questions, check out Where to ask a question or ask me on. Again, welcome!--Mishae (talk) 00:25, 13 September 2013 (UTC)
 * Your first article
 * Biographies of living persons
 * How to write a great article
 * The five pillars of Wikipedia
 * Help pages
 * Tutorial

Proposal for Contribution to Healthcare in Malawi Page
I.	Topic overview

The majority of the leading causes of death in Malawi are preventable. Malawi is among the countries with the highest prevalence of HIV/AIDS and highest incidence of Tuberculosis (TB). Another large health concern for Malawi is the Malaria endemic that affects a very large portion of the population. The fact that these preventable issues continue to be serious threats to Malawi lies heavily in the shortcomings of Malawi’s healthcare. One of the most significant flaws in the healthcare system is the shortage of medical facilities and personnel. Simply put, there are an inadequate number of hospital beds to accommodate the number of patients received in medical facilities. In addition, nearly every facility suffers from incredibly high vacancy rates for medical personnel at all levels of expertise. In 2005, Malawi (population 12 million) had only 156 physicians practicing in the public health sector and/or the Christian Health Association of Malawi. Many of the skilled medical personnel are leaving Malawi in search of better environments, opportunities, and pay. There are not enough individuals being trained in the medical field to compensate for the number of skilled individuals that are leaving. The majority of the Malawi’s population lives in rural areas. However, approximately 80 percent of trained health staff work in urban areas. This means that the health facilities in rural areas are operated largely by workers with minimal training (often only a couple of weeks). The Malawian government’s response to address these health challenges is its policy to provide an Essential Health Care Package (EHP). Although the theory behind the EHP policy is rooted in good intentions, there is no way for the Malawian government to fund the resources necessary to provide health care to its population. Health expenditures have remained at approximately 11% of total expenditures. However, this limited funding is by no means adequate enough to meet the healthcare needs of Malawi’s population. 1 Malawi relies heavily on foreign funding for the functioning of its often mediocre, to say the least, healthcare system. In 2009-2010 the Malawian Ministry of Health budget accounted for 8.9 percent of total health costs. External donors provided 43 percent of the national health expenditure. This is an indicator of Malawi’s economic strife and its inability to support an effective health system.

II. Need for revision

The existing article on healthcare in Malawi is incredibly vague. The article does not give enough attention to the specific health issues of Malawi nor does it address the health care system in any sort of detail. The only subsection that consists of more than a single sentence is a section titled statistics. I feel that article merely offers a very nondescript and brief summary of some aspects of health care in Malawi. It consists of 5 sub sections, only one of which includes more than a sentence of information. Although the existing sections are important issues of healthcare in Malawi, there is undoubtedly more information to be added to each section, along with entirely new sections. I would like to deemphasize, or potentially remove, the information regarding superstar Madonna’s contributions to the effort to address health care issues in Malawi. I believe that it is important to include a section addressing humanitarian efforts to improve the health care in Malawi; but it needs to include a comprehensive list of efforts, not just the efforts of a single humanitarian. In addition, I feel that it does not do a sufficient job of explaining the medical and financial resources that are the foundation of Malawian healthcare. These are sub-sections that I plan to add and elaborate on. III. Relevance

The United Nations Millennium Goals specifically address a number of issues that are deeply affecting Malawi. The health-goals provide a link between the alleviation of poverty and resource allocation to health services. This connection emphasizes how relevant addressing healthcare is in the worldwide effort to alleviate poverty. The specific UN Millennium Goals that are especially relevant to the most pressing health issues in Malawi include: -	A reduction in child mortality by two-thirds of the 1990 level by 2015, -	A reduction in maternal mortality by three-quarters of the 1990 level by 2015, and -	An end in the rise of HIV/AIDS and other major prevalent diseases by 2015 at the latest The fact that we are now only two years away from the 2015 deadline for the Millennium goals adds an even greater degree of relevance to recording the current state of health care in Malawi. In my revisions, I intend to compare these three goals and a few more with Malawi’s progress at the point in time.

IV. Comparison with B-class article

For this comparison, I have selected the article titled Health care in the United States. This B-Class article provides a stark contrast to the amount of information that is included for each subsection. In this article, each sub-section provides a substantial amount of relevant information. In the article that I would like to revise, the sub-sections are by no means fleshed out with information. Another major difference between this B-class article and the existing Healthcare in Malawi article is the reliability and abundance of sources. This is something that I would really like to change about the article. I would like to include more sub-sections in order to provide a better understanding of specific aspects of healthcare in Malawi. For each of these subsections, I intend to include a substantial amount of information from reliable sources. Comparing these articles also presents the issue of linking the article to other wiki articles. The B-Class article does a very good job of having a number of meaningful links. On this page, if one were to click a link provided, they would be directed to a page that would contribute to their knowledge of the original topic. However, I feel that the article on Malawi includes some links that may not contribute greatly to the readers’ understanding of the topic. I would like to incorporate more links and eliminate some that are irrelevant (such as the “Madonna” link). Additionally, the B-class article incorporates visual aids that really help to clarify the information provided in some sections. I would like to add these types of visual representations to supplement the explanations in some of the subsections. For the existing article, I feel the statistics section would really benefit from this type of concise clarification. Adding a table that provides an overview of the statistical information that is explain in words would serve not only to clarify but also as an easy reference for the readers to refer to as they read the remaining sections of the article. V.	Planned work

I would like to restructure and reword some of the information in the introductory paragraph to include more about the fact that Malawi is so severely affected by diseases that could be easily preventable. Then, I would like to add an overview section. This section would function to provide a general understanding of the healthcare system and the issues that it is addressing and how it is doing so. Most of the information provided in this overview will be further elaborated in the following sections. I would like to retitle the “Health Statistics” section to read “Health indicators”. I would like this section to be organized into a paragraph section on the left and an organized table visual on the right. This will help to explain the statistics that are most significant in Malawi while also providing a concise reference table. It is crucial that a section be added to address each of the major health issues faced by Malawi. I would like for this list to include: -	HIV/AIDS, -	Tuberculosis, -	Malaria, -	Maternal and neonatal care, -	Acute respiratory infections, -	Diarrhea, -	And potentially other pressing infectious diseases. Each of these sub-sections will include statistics and a further explanation for why it is so common, how it is treated, and efforts to alleviate the issue. Then, I would like to add a section discussing the healthcare resources in Malawi. This should include facilities, personnel and medical professional institutions. This portion needs to be added in order to gain an understanding of why Malawi struggles to offer medical care to its population, especially in rural areas. Lastly, I intend to add a section explaining the role of Malawian government in healthcare. This section is non-existing in the current article and is a crucial aspect of Malawi’s healthcare.

VI. Anticipated difficulties

One major difficulty I feel I will face in writing this article is choosing which sub-sections to add. There are a number that I feel are important however, it is not realistic to be able to include every subsection that I feel could be relevant. Another difficulty I feel that I am likely to face is the issue of overly opinionated and non-neutral resources. It is crucial that I thoroughly investigate each resource I include in order to insure its credibility and neutrality. This is very important for the articles credibility in the Wikipedia community.

VII. Detailed outline

Title: Healthcare in Malawi Contents 1.	Overview 2.	Health indictors (edit – add chart organization of indicators critical to an understanding of the most pressing health issues) 3.	Major health concerns a.	HIV/AIDS b.	Tuberculosis c.	Malaria d.	Maternal and neonatal care e.	Acute respiratory infections f.	Other pressing infectious diseases (not certain about adding this section- it may be too much) 4.	Resources (highlighting resource constraints) a.	Facilities b.	Personnel c.	Professional schools 5.	Malawian government’s role in healthcare a.	Financing b.	Policy 6.	Public health services 7.	Private health services a.	Insurance (may want to remove this) 8.	Pharmaceutical industry (may want to remove this) 9.	References (will definitely want to expand the references and delete some that are not credible)

VIII. Contributions to WikiProject Group and Talk pages

I would like to join the discussion and list of open tasks in WikiProject Africa and WikiProject Malawi. The pre-existing Healthcare in Malawi article has been identified as a top-priority topic. This is encouraging because I hope it is a topic that people are willing to give me feedback on. I would like to propose my section additions and see if the Wikipedia community can offer me any advice as to what sections I could add, eliminate or condense.

IX. Conclusion

As we approach the 2015 goal for the UN Millennium goals, it is important that we begin to understand the progress of developing nations. Malawi is one of the developing nations most affected by disease and poor healthcare. Although many changes have been made to improve health in Malawi, there are still a number of pressing issues that must be addressed. This, I believe, is a compelling reason for me to revise this article. I would like to provide the worldwide community with accurate information regarding Malawi’s current condition in regards to healthcare.

X.	Resources

Works cited from section I Conroy, Anne C. Poverty, AIDS, and hunger: breaking the poverty trap in Malawi / Anne C. Conroy ... [et al.]. n.p.: New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2006., 2006. Classic Catalog, EBSCOhost (accessed September 26, 2013). 2 Kalinga, Owen J. M. Historical dictionary of Malawi / Owen J.M. Kalinga. n.p.: Lanham, Md. : Scarecrow Press, 2012., 2012. Classic Catalog, EBSCOhost (accessed September 25, 2013).

Other resources that I believe will be useful

R Glynn, et al. "Declining child mortality in northern Malawi despite high rates of infection with HIV." Bulletin Of The World Health Organization 88, no. 10 (October 2010): 746-753. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed September 25, 2013). Edward Kataika, et al. "Health financing in Malawi: Evidence from National Health Accounts." BMC International Health & Human Rights 10, (January 2010): 27-37. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed September 25, 2013). Rabiya Hanif, et al. "Sourcing Strategy and Supply Chain Risk Management in the Healthcare Sector: A Case Study of Malawi's Public Healthcare Delivery Supply Chain." Journal Of Management & Strategy 4, no. 3 (August 2013): 16-26. Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed September 26, 2013). 2002. Malawi [electronic resource]. n.p.: Washington, DC : USAID, 2002. Classic Catalog, EBSCOhost (accessed September 12, 2013). Jennifer Bryce, et al. "Quality of sick child care delivered by Health Surveillance Assistants in Malawi." Health Policy & Planning 28, no. 6 (September 2013): 573-585. Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed September 12, 2013). Biomedical Engineering for Global Health, Cambridge University Press Health Policy Plan. (1994) 9 (1): 63-71. doi: 10.1093/heapol/9.1.63 DONALD J. KROGSTAD; Medicine in Malawi. Annals of Internal Medicine. 1980 Jun;92(6):861-864. Gert Van Rooy, et al. "Core concepts of human rights and inclusion of vulnerable groups in the mental health policies of Malawi, Namibia, and Sudan." International Journal Of Mental Health Systems 7, no. 1 (May 2013): 1-13. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed September 12, 2013). Crick Lund, et al. "A Descriptive Analysis of HIV Prevalence, HIV Service Uptake, and HIV-Related Risk Behaviour among Patients Attending a Mental Health Clinic in Rural Malawi." Plos ONE 8, no. 8 (August 2013): 1-8. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed September 12, 2013).

Wikipedia articles for reference and linking “Health Care in Pakistan.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthcare_in_Pakistan “Demographics of Malwai.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Malawi “HIV/AIDS in Malawi.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HIV/AIDS_in_Malawi “Wiki Category page: Health in Malawi” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Health_in_Malawi “Kamuzu central hospital.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamuzu_Central_Hospital

Brookeethleen (talk) 00:50, 9 October 2013 (UTC)

Proposal for contributions to Kasoa article
The current “Kasoa” Wikipedia page has been visited 1330 times within the past 90 days. Therefore, I feel it is very important that this Stub-Class article is significantly improved. I will change the title of this article to "Kasoa (Oduponkpehe)" to account for both of the town's commonly used names. This will allow for the condesation of information provided on two seperate articles regarding the same town, Kasoa and Oduponkpehe. The newly combined article will provide an overview of the political, economic, and social framework of Kasoa with an additional emphasis on healthcare. In essence, the article will serve as a comprehensive yet concise overview of this rapidly growing peri-urban community. Below is more information about my vision for improving this article and a little about my motivations for doing so (although this will not be reflected in the article, for I will insure that I maintain neutrality). Please feel free to share any thoughts or ideas you may have about this article and/or my proposal. Sincerely, Brookeethleen (talk) 01:01, 28 February 2014 (UTC)

I would like to completely rework the existing article titled “Kasoa.” This article provides very little information about Kasoa. There are only two subsections that include content specifically regarding Kasoa. The first subsection is “Location” which consists of a paragraph of information regarding Kasoa’s physical location. This section also includes the information about the municipality under which the area operates (Awutu Senya East Municipality). There is a dead link to this municipality, so I would like to elaborate on what the Awutu Senya East Municipality is and how Kasoa functions within this system. There are six functional links, most of which I will strive to retain, for they have potential to be helpful for readers to search for more information relating to Kasoa. The next subsection is “Population.” This section consists of only one sentence that states the population that was estimated in 2011. I think it is appropriate and potentially very productive to compare the current “Kasoa” article to the “Ghana” article that has a B-Class rating. The most immediate difference between these two articles is the number of subsections. The B-class article has 10 very logically sequenced sections that provide a broad overview of some of the most important components of the nation. This is in stark contrast with the Stub-Class article that I intend to improve. This article, as I mentioned before, has only two subsections. I would like to add a couple of subsections that are similar to those in the B-Class article and/or that cover similar important topics. In addition, the B-Class article has a substantial amount of properly cited credible information for each section. This is my goal for each section I add to the Stub-Class article. Lastly, the B-Class article is a part of numerous WikiProjects such as WikiProject Ghana, WikiProject Africa, and WikiProject Countries. The status of the Stub-Class article can be improved by adding the article to WikiProjects that will enable the community of Wikipedians that are interested in the WikiProject to pay greater attention to and possibly help improve upon the article. I plan to keep both of the original sections and to add three additional sections. There are a few minor edits that I plan to make to the “Location” section but I think it is an important section to keep and it contains information that is necessary for a complete understanding of Kasoa. I plan to double check each of the resources cited in this section and replace resources with low credibility with more credible ones. I plan to add a significant amount of information to the “Population” section. It is important that the population estimate is updated to a more recently published estimate. However, the most significant part of my efforts in this section will be to add information about the demographics of the population and the recent trends of rapid population growth. I would also like to include information about the specific gender and age distribution in the population, such as the relatively large population of young females. The three new sections that I would like to add will be titled, “Politics,” “Economy,” and “Health.” In the politics section I will include a detailed description of the “semi-traditional” political system in Kasoa –the Chieftaincy system. I will explain the origins of this system and how it affects relevant policy issues, such as property rights. In the section titled “Economy,” I will include descriptions of Kasoa’s economic resources, practices, and stability. I would also like to explain how the growth in population has affected the economy. Another important component of this section will be the average family income, which largely constitutes the standard of living in Kasoa (especially compared with Accra). In the “Health” section, I will explain Kasoa’s most prominent health issues and their resources for providing healthcare. I will also explain the number of health facilities and how understaffed, under stocked, and overpopulated the single government health facility that exists in Kasoa. The community’s response to the lack of government facilities has been the creation of private health clinics (approximately 33). In addition, within the last decade, there has been a large increase in volunteer health workers. One of the major difficulties I believe I may face is the lack of scholarly information and research specifically regarding the health facilities in Kasoa. This is a significant challenge because I would really like to place an emphasis on the health content. If I am not able to find enough credible information then I may be able to find additional resources this when I work in the one government health facility that exists in Kasoa. This will allow me to update the article after this semester has passed. A potential benefit of this challenge is that I feel that it will encourage me to include more subsections. I plan to link to the Ghana and Accra articles. I will add multiple links to pages that elaborate on significant topics that are relevant to the information provided in my contribution. I would like to add small amount of information about Kasoa into the “Neighborhoods” section of the Accra Wikipedia page. Hopefully, this will increase the amount of traffic visiting my article. I would like to ask both WikiProject Ghana and WikiProject Africa if anyone can recommend any credible sources to obtain more information about Kasoa, specifically their healthcare. I will also ask for any suggests about my choice of sections. I would like to get feedback regarding whether I am including too much or not enough detail in this overview of Kasoa. In addition to these requests for a small amount of help and guidance I would like to ask these WikiProject Groups to continue to give me feedback as I work on the page throughout the semester. As the population of Kasoa continues to grow at a very high rate, a number of issues, such as a lack of government health facilities, are escalating. This article will provide a comprehensive overview of Kasoa and will greatly increase accessibility to credible information about Kasoa and its people. As I delve further into my research about Kasoa, I am finding that there are very rarely sources that are concerned solely with Kasoa. Therefore, there is truly a need for the accessible and accurate information that this article will provide. Detailed outline 1.	Location 2.	Population 3.	Politics 4.	Economy 5.	Health 6.	External links 7.	See also References 1.	Population •	Ghanney, Robert Andrews. "A comparative study of the Social and Economic organizations of in-migrants and the indigenes of Kasoa." (2010). •	Yeboah, Ian EA. "Demographic and housing aspects of structural adjustment and emerging urban form in Accra, Ghana." Africa Today (2003): 107-119. 2.	Politics •	Nyasulu, Tapiwa Uchizi. "Governance and Customary Land Tenure in Peri-Urban Kasoa in Ghana." PhD diss., Universität zu Köln, 2012. •	Rupp, Stephanie. "Ghana, China, and the Politics of Energy." African Studies Review 56, no. 01 (2013): 103-130. 3.	Economy •	Attom, Ben Ebo. "The impact of Information Communication Technology (ICT) on business Growth strategies of Small and Medium-scale Enterprises (SMEs) in the Awutu-Senya East Municipality of Central Region of Ghana." •	Adjei-Bosompem, Eunice. "Micro-credit Lending and Women's Empowerment: The Experiences of Rural Kasoa Women." The Journal of Global Gender Studies 1, no. 1 (2013). •	Nyasulu, Tapiwa Uchizi. "Governance and Customary Land Tenure in Peri-Urban Kasoa in Ghana." PhD diss., Universität zu Köln, 2012. •	Porter, Gina. "Living in a walking world: rural mobility and social equity issues in sub-Saharan Africa." World development 30, no. 2 (2002): 285-300. 4.	Health •	Bougangue, Bassoumah. "Maternal health in Awutu-Senya district." (2012). •	Danso-Appiah, Anthony, Wilma A. Stolk, Kwabena M. Bosompem, Joseph Otchere, Caspar WN Looman, J. Dik F. Habbema, and Sake J. de Vlas. "Health seeking behaviour and utilization of health facilities for schistosomiasis-related symptoms in Ghana." PLoS neglected tropical diseases 4, no. 11 (2010): e867. •	De Vlas, Sake J., Anthony Danso‐Appiah, Marieke J. Van Der Werf, Kwabena M. Bosompem, and J. Dik F. Habbema. "Quantitative evaluation of integrated schistosomiasis control: the example of passive case finding in Ghana." Tropical Medicine & International Health 9, no. 6 (2004): A16-A21. •	http://www.modernghana.com/news2/79000/1/ministry-of-health-asked-to-upgrade-kasoa-health-c.html •	Nyarko, Philomena, Ian Askew, Ayo Ajayi, Edward Addai, Gifty Addico, and Caroline Jehu-Appiah. Priority Setting for Reproductive Health at the District Level in the context of Health Sector Reforms in Ghana. Frontiers in Reproductive Health, Population Council, 2006. •	Bougangue, Bassoumah. "Maternal health in Awutu-Senya district." (2012).

Brookeethleen (talk) 01:01, 28 February 2014 (UTC)

Merge discussion for Ghana cedi
An article that you have been involved in editing, Ghana cedi, has been proposed for a merge with another article. If you are interested in the merge discussion, please participate by going here, and adding your comments on the discussion page. Thank you. Jack Bornholm (talk) 18:04, 20 December 2014 (UTC)

Contests
User:Dr. Blofeld has created WikiProject Africa/Contests. The idea is to run a series of contests/editathons focusing on each region of Africa. He has spoken to Wikimedia about it and $1000-1500 is possible for prize money. As someone who has previously expressed interest in African topics, would you be interested in contributing to one or assisting draw up core article/missing article lists? He says he's thinking of North Africa for an inaugural one in October. If interested please sign up in the participants section of the Contest page, thanks.♦ -- Ser Amantio di Nicolao Che dicono a Signa?Lo dicono a Signa. 01:13, 21 July 2016 (UTC)

Invite to the African Destubathon
Hi. You may be interested in participating in the African Destubathon which starts on October 15. Africa currently has over 37,000 stubs and badly needs a quality improvement editathon/contest to flesh out basic stubs. There are proposed substantial prizes to give to editors who do the most geography, wildlife and women articles, and planned smaller prizes for doing to most destubs for each of the 53 African countries, so should be enjoyable! Even if contests aren't your thing we would be grateful if you could consider destubbing a few African articles during the drive to help the cause and help reduce the massive 37,000 + stub count, of which many are rated high importance (think Regions of countries etc). If you're interested in competing or just loosely contributing, whether it's a river in Malawi, a Nigerian footballer, or a South African civil rights activist, please add your name to the Contestants/participants section. Diversity of work from a lot of people will make this that bit more special. For those of you who signed up to the North African contest, that will hopefully be held in the new year. Thanks. --MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 21:11, 6 October 2016 (UTC)

Women in Red World Contest
Hi. We're into the last five days of the Women in Red World Contest. There's a new bonus prize of $200 worth of books of your choice to win for creating the most new women biographies between 0:00 on the 26th and 23:59 on 30th November. If you've been contributing to the contest, thank you for your support, we've produced over 2000 articles. If you haven't contributed yet, we would appreciate you taking the time to add entries to our articles achievements list by the end of the month. Thank you, and if participating, good luck with the finale!

Join the Months of African Cinema Global Contest!
Ýou can opt-out of this annual reminder from The Afrocine Project by removing your username from this list

The Months of African Cinema Contest Continues in November!
You can opt-out of this annual reminder from The Afrocine Project by removing your username from this list

Welcome to the Months of African Cinema Global Contest!
Ýou can opt-out of this annual reminder from The Afrocine Project by removing your username from this list

The Months of African Cinema Contest Continues in November!
You can opt-out of this annual reminder from The Afrocine Project by removing your username from this list