Health System, Sickness and Social Suffering in Mekelle (Tigray - Ethiopia)


Book Description

In medical anthropology, "medical system" refers to all the healing practices, therapeutic knowledge, and traditions that, in a specific social context, people can use in order to cope with health problems. It refers as well to all the social actors involved: policy makers, health professionals, healers, priests, patients, and their family. Starting from this perspective, this book presents the first results of an ethnographic research which was carried out in Tigray (the northernmost of the nine ethnic regions of Ethiopia), between 2007 and 2008. It analyzes, in the social context of Mekelle (the capital of Tigray), the different healing practices and therapeutic traditions, as well as the strategies of the actors acting in the social arena. It also explores the health care seeking behaviors of the patients in a context characterized by social suffering and inequalities. (Series: Mekelle University Social Science Series - Vol. 1)




Competing Orders of Medical Care in Ethiopia


Book Description

Based on Pino Schirripa’s fieldwork, Competing Orders of Medical Care in Ethiopia traces the development of pharmaceutical products and medical remedies in the health sector. Schirripa analyzes the production and distribution of medications and examines how local politics, financial resources, social relations, and neoliberal beliefs can make some treatments more widespread and accepted than others. Schirripa’s observations of Ethiopian healing systems and social relations provide new insight into the complex process of prescription.




Perspectives on African Witchcraft


Book Description

Ethiopian and Eritrean Pentecostalism and the Habesha church in Rome -- Breaking with the past, healing history -- Conclusion -- References -- 7 "I went out into the street ... and now I am fighting for my life.": Street children, witchcraft accusations, and the collapse of the household in Bangui (Central African Republic) -- A history of oppression and dispossession -- The streets of Bangui -- Witchcraft violence:Children, adults and religious leaders in the streets of Bangui -- Etiological crisis and the collapse of the household -- Conclusion: The dialectic of enclosure and freedom -- References -- 8 Fields of experience: In between healing and harming. On conversation between Dogon healers and sorcerers -- Healing powers, sacrifice and sorcery on the Dogon plateau -- Archives of disorder, secret and rebellion -- To accuse, to heal, to envision -- Epistemological debris and 'hierarchies of credibility'. Conclusions -- References -- Index




Vulnerabilities, Impacts, and Responses to HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa


Book Description

This book examines HIV/AIDS vulnerabilities, impacts and responses in the socioeconomic and cultural context of Sub-Saharan Africa. With contributions from social scientists and public health experts, the volume identifies gender inequality and poverty as the main causes of the HIV epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa.




Tears for My Sisters


Book Description

The tragedy of Queen Henhenit -- The human obstetrical dilemma and its consequences -- The conquest of obstructed labor -- Dr. Sims finds a cure -- Structural violence and obstetric fistula : the Hausa case -- Deadly delays : deciding to seek care -- Deadly delays : getting to a place of care -- Deadly delays : receiving care -- Compassion, respect, and justice -- Hamlin fistula : a vision realized -- Epilogue : lessons learned and the way forward




Social Health Insurance


Book Description




Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders Wmsds


Book Description

Work related muskuloskeletal disorders, or WMSDs, have become a major problem in many industrialised countries. It was previously thought that the number of repetitive jobs would decline in the future, leading to a decline in the number of WMSDs: however, this has not been the case. Some government agencies expect WMSDs to be one of the major work-related disorders into the new Millenium. This book contains evaluated scientific information that will help prevent WMSDs, derived from original research and field experience via a Canadian Government sponsored project on work related musculoskeletal disorders. The expert group's goal was twofold: the first objective was to examine the work relatedness of WMSDs in the light of existing literature, and the second was to explore and synthesize information, avenues and approaches that could help in the prevention of WMSDS.




Humanitarianism in the Modern World


Book Description

A fresh look at two centuries of humanitarian history through a moral economy approach focusing on appeals, allocation, and accounting.




From Evidence to Action


Book Description

Cash transfers have become a key social protection tool in developing countries and have expanded dramatically in the last two decades. However, the impacts of cash transfers programmes, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, have not been substantially documented. This book presents a detailed overview of the impact evaluations of these programmes, carried out by the Transfer Project and FAO’s From Protection to Production project. The 14 chapters include a review of eight country case studies: Kenya, Ghana, Ethiopia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Malawi, South Africa, as well as a description of the innovative research methodologies, political economy issues and good practices to design cash transfer programmes. The key objective of the book is to enhance the understanding of these development programmes, how they lead to a broad range of social and productive impacts and also of the role of programme evaluation in the process of developing policies and implementing programmes.




Individualized Care


Book Description

This contributed book is based on more than 20 years of researches on patient individuality, care and services of the continuously changing healthcare system. It describes how research results can be used to respond to challenges on individuality in healthcare systems. Service users’, patients’ or clients’ point of views on care and health services are urgently needed. This book describes the conceptualisation of the individualized nursing care phenomenon and the process development of the measuring instruments of that phenomenon in different contexts. It describes results from a variety of clinical contexts about individualized nursing care and explains factors associated with the perceptions and delivery of individualized nursing care from different point of views. This book may appeal to clinicians, nurses practitioners and researchers from many fields.