Back in 1980, a fifth of all deaths in Ethiopia were from tuberculosis, a nasty disease that attacks the lungs. Now, only about 3% of deaths in Ethiopia are from tuberculosis. Ethiopians now live about 65 years, on average, compared to only 43 years in 1980.
In 1980, Ethiopia had the highest death rate from tuberculosis in the world. Almost 400 people died per 100,000 people, according to data from the latest edition of the Global Burden of Disease study.
Since then, the country has achieved a sixfold reduction in the death rate. This steep decline is shown in the chart.
The nation’s widespread health initiatives have likely significantly improved access to tuberculosis care and treatment. These efforts have significantly exceeded the progress of other countries with similar tuberculosis rates in the 1980s.
Although Ethiopians are unlikely to die of tuberculosis these days, the disease remains common in the neighboring country of Somalia, much of which is controlled by warring clans. About a sixth of all deaths in Somalia are from tuberculosis. Deaths from the disease often occur in the mountainous African country of Lesotho, and in Zimbabwe and Burundi (the latter is a poverty-stricken country where mass ethnic killings have repeatedly occurred in the past, such as in 1972, when the Tutsi-controlled government slaughtered over 100,000 Hutu people).
Back in the 20th Century, Peace Corps volunteers in Ethiopia and other African countries would sometimes contract tuberculosis or mysterious diseases that disabled or killed them. After graduating from law school, the future White House counsel Charles Ruff accepted a Ford Foundation fellowship to teach law in Africa. In 1964, while in Liberia, Ruff was sickened with flu-like symptoms (the disease was never identified) and almost died; he became paralyzed in the legs and used a wheelchair for the rest of his life.
Ethiopia, the second most populous country in Africa, recently had a civil war that killed hundreds of thousands of people. That increased the number of people fleeing Ethiopia. Some who left for other countries were lured with promises of good jobs in South Africa or Kenya, only to be used as slave labor in other African countries like Malawi or Zambia, or extorted for more money from their families by human smugglers. Ethiopian emigrants were murdered, starved, or worked to death in connivance with human smugglers. Some were murdered by smugglers who extorted what they could before killing their captives.
In 2023, Saudi border guards slaughtered thousands of Ethiopian migrants attempting to get into Saudi Arabia.
Ethiopia used to also have a nasty disease called Guinea worm, especially in its Gambella region. That disease caused millions of people to scream with unbearable pain.
But that disease has been essentially eradicated: “No guinea worm was reported” in 2024.
Guinea worms used to infest millions of people in Africa and South Asia every year. They would grow up to 3 feet long while living inside a person’s body, then burst out of their foot or other sensitive areas of their anatomy, such as their eyeball or their penis.
