Organized Session, Workshop or Roundtable Title
Improving Outcomes: From Global to Local Contexts, Biomedical and Traditional Approaches
Participation Type
Organized Session
Participant Type
Multi-presenter
Organized Session, Workshop or Roundtable Abstract
This session has been convened by the Southern Anthropological Association
Organizer
SAS Convener: Kaylie Tram
Type of Session
Paper
Presentation #1 Title
Nurses as Mediators in the Madagascar Healthcare System
Presentation #1 Abstract
Madagascar, the fourth largest island in the world and an independent nation since 1960, represents a fulcrum between two forms of health care. As the country has become more urbanized, biomedicine has emerged alongside the historically used traditional medicine (TM). In 2002, upon the recommendation of the World Health Organization, Madagascar officially recognized TM as a legitimate form of care. Malagasy officials hoped that biomedical and traditional medicine would integrate and offer cooperative care. Today, however, only 60 to 70 percent of the Malagasy population has access to primary health care. Within the healthcare system, nurses can represent a direct link to patients due to their availability in biomedical care centers in both rural and urban settings. They represent a potential solution to uniting the two systems of medical care because they are able to interact with patients who must navigate the nuances of deficient healthcare. Alongside the SIT study abroad program, I used research, visits to care centers, interviews, and participant observation to analyze Malagasy nurses over a six-week period. I also investigated the division within healthcare and evaluated the possibility of a true dual healthcare system. My findings indicate that cost is still too large of an issue to patients. Furthermore, there is a need for both health practitioners and patients to recognize traditional medicine and biomedicine as legitimate forms of care. While nurses can be a viable source of information, they cannot be mediators because they are absent in family medicine.
At-A-Glance Bios- Participant #1
Kaylie is a senior anthropology major and chemistry minor at Davidson College.
Presentation #2 Title
Mayan Ethnobotany and Ethnomedicine By Tiffany Clark
Presentation #2 Abstract
Western medical knowledge and practice occupy an increasingly dominant position throughout the world while indigenous knowledge and practice are increasingly marginalized. The West’s advances are often driven by new technology, much of which is costly and beyond the meager budgets of countries in the developing world like Belize. So, the question I pose in this paper is whether or not there remains a place for Maya medical knowledge and practice in southern Belize. My paper documents the indigenous knowledge of Mayan shamans and socalled “bush doctors,” and the benefits that can come from its preservation. I also discuss programs like Belize Ethnobotany Project (BEP), whereby children are educated in local knowledge. And although I do not deny the importance of modern medical practice, the question of appropriate technology looms over the discussion of world health.
At-A-Glance Bios- Participant #2
Tiffany Clark is a junior chemistry major with a minor in anthropology.
Presentation #3 Title
Global Health at the Local Level: Innovative Approaches for Preventing HIV/AIDS Among Adolescent Girls in Botswana – Evidence from an Evaluation Study on Perceptions of Cross Generational Sex in an Urban Context
Presentation #3 Abstract
In Botswana,, cross-generational sex (CGS) accounts for a disparity in incidence and prevalence rates between young men and women in the country. Ministry of Health data and ethnographic research indicate that almost one third of college aged girls in urban cities had high-risk sex with a partner over ten years older in the past year. Described as ‘Mma 14s’ these girls are caught between cultural imperatives and global consumption. Rates of incidence and prevalence for young women of that age are considerably higher for women despite active education and awareness programs targeted toward the reduction of CGS. Increasingly, global health initiatives have placed emphasis on gender issues in the construction of efficacious, culturally competent prevention strategies. This paper describes how a local initiative, Makgabaneng, a very popular, long-running radio serial drama, has helped to raise awareness and increase education across the country about CGS. The show, a product of grassroots development and culturally competent strategies has helped empower young girls as well as community members in their efforts to ameliorate some of the disparities in HIV infection. This approach has had positive outcomes for girls living in urban contexts and from both low and high socio-economic backgrounds, indicating a shift in awareness that transcends assumptions about SES and empowerment. This paper demonstrates how ethnographically driven research at the local level, helped to inform better strategies for intervention of what has come to be seen as an increasingly problematic aspect of the global epidemic.
At-A-Glance Bios- Participant #3
Rebecca L. Upton, Ph.D., M.P.H. is a medical anthropologist and public health practitioner who works in the US and Southern African contexts on issues of reproductive health, technology and HIV/AIDS. She teaches in the Sociology & Anthropology Department at DePauw University and in the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University.
Presentation #4 Title
How Bowdlerized Accounts Undermine Optimal Health Care Delivery in Amazonia and Appalachia
Presentation #4 Abstract
Having a better understanding of the medical ramifications of failing to acknowledge unflattering realities, and worse, suppressing such data, of some elements of Amerindian and Appalachian culture is misguided and undermines the accuracy of medical needs-assessment which in turn compromises the availability and maintenance of health care delivery systems serving marginalized populations.
At-A-Glance Bios- Participant #4
John Walden, MD, DTMH, a native Appalachian from rural Lincoln County, West Virginia, has lived, worked and trekked with isolated tribal populations throughout Amazonia on an almost yearly basis since 1966, the year he started medical school. He is Professor and Emeritus Chairman of the Department of Family and Community Health at Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine where he founded and continues to direct the nation’s oldest International Health Track in a Family Medicine residency program. He has facilitated overseas rotations for medical students, resident-physicians and medical faculty in 40 countries around the world.
Keywords
Amazonia, Americas, Applied Anthropology, global health, Indigenous Peoples, Medical Anthropology, Public Health, Representation, Southern Africa
Start Date
4-9-2016 3:30 PM
End Date
4-9-2016 5:00 PM
Nurses as Mediators in the Madagascar Healthcare System
Big Sandy Conference Center - Tech Room 02
Madagascar, the fourth largest island in the world and an independent nation since 1960, represents a fulcrum between two forms of health care. As the country has become more urbanized, biomedicine has emerged alongside the historically used traditional medicine (TM). In 2002, upon the recommendation of the World Health Organization, Madagascar officially recognized TM as a legitimate form of care. Malagasy officials hoped that biomedical and traditional medicine would integrate and offer cooperative care. Today, however, only 60 to 70 percent of the Malagasy population has access to primary health care. Within the healthcare system, nurses can represent a direct link to patients due to their availability in biomedical care centers in both rural and urban settings. They represent a potential solution to uniting the two systems of medical care because they are able to interact with patients who must navigate the nuances of deficient healthcare. Alongside the SIT study abroad program, I used research, visits to care centers, interviews, and participant observation to analyze Malagasy nurses over a six-week period. I also investigated the division within healthcare and evaluated the possibility of a true dual healthcare system. My findings indicate that cost is still too large of an issue to patients. Furthermore, there is a need for both health practitioners and patients to recognize traditional medicine and biomedicine as legitimate forms of care. While nurses can be a viable source of information, they cannot be mediators because they are absent in family medicine.