Modern Health Care System and Socio-cultural Settings of the Somali Pastoral and Agro-pastoral Community in Jijiga Zone
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Date
2011-05
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Publisher
AAU
Abstract
The twenty century has witnessed the integration of the socio-cultural settings of the
society in to the modern health care system implemented both in the developed and
developing countries of the world. In developing countries in general and in Ethiopia in
particular, the situation in health care has become so complex that medical or biological
terms alone cannot effectively assess it. When health care providers ignore the
psychological and socio-cultural factors, the care of patients is limited; because biology
represents only part of the consequences of a malady. Hence, inquiry in to the socio cultural settings of a society is vital for understanding the various features of the
community such as, their views of health, disease, illness, and sickness and the
indigenous medical beliefs and practices of the community that, they employ to prevent
and treat health related problems. Similarly, such an investigation would also help to
recogni ze the socio-cultural aspects that are challenges in the provision of services as
well as aspects that need to be taken in to account in the provision of services. Therefore,
this thesis primarily emphasizes on the socio-cultural settings of the Somali pastoral and
agro-pastoral community in Jijiga zone, that need to be considered in the provision of
modern health care services.
Both qualitative and quantitative research methods were employed for the collection of
the data. In-depth interviews, focus group discussion and observations were the
qualitative research methods that were used in the study. Where as survey was the
quantitative research method employed to support the data collected through qualitative
research methods in this study.
The findings of the study revealed that, the socio-cultural aspects of the community in the
study area are challenging the provision of modern health care services and impacting the
health seeking behavior of the community. The community's social and cultural aspects
at the same time are linked to the most common diseases in the area. People of the area
associate the causation of diseases both to the personalistic and natural factors; but the
majority of diseases are believed to be caused by the personalistic (supernatural forces).
Hence, for the treatments of many diseases home remedy and traditional medicines (use
of ma'alin) are preferred than modern medicine. Mostly, when such treatment options
fai led to cure the disease, the cause is associated with the blood and a laboratory test is
demanded from the modern health care institutions.
Generally, the study portrayed that, the urban, curative oriented health care program
implemented in the study area has exacerbated the ill-health status of the community;
because the focus is on curing while the causes of many diseases are related with the
social and cultural aspects that are possible to be prevented through health education
taking their cultural settings in to account. In addition, the study revealed that, the large
number of male physicians who are unfamiliar to the community's culture and Somali
women health extension workers who are afraid of men member of the community, and
the failure of the modern health centers to incorporate traditional birth attendants who are
providing safe deliveries to the majority of mothers in the study area are some of the
serious challenges hindering the provision of modern health care services in the area.