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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Help-seeking and coping strategies in onchocerciasis afflicted communities in the context of globalisation
Author:Awedoba, Albert KanlisiISNI
Year:2001
Periodical:Research Review (ISSN 0855-4412)
Volume:17
Issue:1
Pages:49-62
Language:English
Notes:biblio. refs.
Geographic terms:Ghana
West Africa
Subjects:globalization
skin diseases
blindness
Medicine, Nutrition, Public Health
onchocerciasis
Medical care
Abstract:Globalization influences the patterns of help-seeking and the strategies that individuals and communities devise for coping with their health problems or preventing illness. The result is eclecticism, an ingenious blending of diverse approaches and traditions in health-seeking behaviours, as people are influenced not only by indigenous knowledge but also by new knowledge and information obtained, amongst others, from friends and relatives and educational messages from biomedical practitioners. This paper illustrates the wide-ranging effects of globalization by attempts to treat onchocerciasis. Onchocerciasis is known to most people as river blindness, but it is less commonly realized that onchocerciasis has other manifestations, such as skin disease. Between 1993 and 2000, WHO/TDR sponsored several sociomedical studies on the disease in Ghana, amongst others in the Aowin-Suaman District of the Western Region. The present paper is based on data collected largely in this district. It looks at perceptions of onchocerciasis skin disease; the various names of this skin disease; perceived problems (itching and stigmatization); coping strategies; patterns of help-seeking; reasons for preferring a particular mode of help-seeking (cost factors, effectiveness, experience, accessibility); and prevention. Bibliogr., note, ref. [ASC Leiden abstract]
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