Alternative and Complementary Medicine Commons^™

La Medicina Alternativa En Oaxaca: Su Coexistencia Con La Medicina Alópata, Katie Deeg

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

En este ensayo exploro la coexistencia entre la medicina alternativa y la alópata en Oaxaca y determino que, dada la relevancia cultural de la medicina alternativa y el estatus deficiente de la salud y servicios médicos en el estado, la promoción de la medicina alternativa es importante para ayudar a la gente a alcanzar la mejor calidad posible de salud. Primero presento una definición de la medicina alternativa dentro del contexto de Oaxaca y describo su presencia en Oaxaca. Considerando la naturaleza de la coexistencia entre la medicina alternativa y alópata, presento mis descubrimientos sobre la importancia de usar los …

The Future Of Tradition: An Ethnographic And Comparative Study Of Social Preference And Medicine In Rural Ghana, Shannon Dick

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In Ghana, there are currently two prevalent forms of medical treatment: traditional and Western medicine. Since Ghana was colonized by the British, Western medicine has spread throughout the country, essentially from south to north. In this ethnographic study, two rural villages are compared, one located in the Central Region and the other in the Upper West Region, in order to evaluate what type of medical treatment people prefer and the reasons for their decisions. The research assesses the social inclination in terms of medicine in these two locations, indicators of Western influences, and gleans a sense of what the future …

Traditional Plant Use Of The Raglay In Cãu Gãy Village, Núi Chúa National Park, Alex Greene

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Members of the Raglay community of Cãu Gãy Village were interviewed to determine the extent and nature of their traditional reliance on plants. This community, located in the buffer zone of Núi Chúa National Park, was found to utilize 64 plant species for a wide variety of uses. Botanical specimens and photographs were used to identify 42 plants to species level, 13 to genus level, and 6 to family level, while 3 remained unidentified. For each plant, the Raglay name, local Vietnamese name, use, specific application, and preparation were documented, as well as any details of ritual or commercial significance. …

Health Care In Aymara Women In The North Of Chile, Rossana Testa Phd, Academic Director

Fostering Multicultural Competence and Global Justice: an SIT Symposium

Background: In Chile the most important indigenous population lives in a determined territory, we found Mapuche people in the south and the Aymara people in the north of the country. The majority of the indigenous people live in the urban zones. However, the indigenous people that live at the rural areas are who conserve their traditional medicine practices.

The region of Arica and Parinacota is the northern region of Chile and has the largest concentration of the Aymara indigenous group in all of Chile.

At the rural areas are the women whom most attended at the public health system, especially …

El Rol De La Partera En La Provincia De Parinacota, Liana Langdon-Embry

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

For centuries, the Aymaran people of the Parinacota Province in Northern Chile have been deeply committed to ancestral practices, where a Cosmo vision rears a connection between human beings, the natural environment, and the spiritual world. The Aymaran medicinal practices replicate this relationship, with the indigenous medicine man and midwives historically holding a central role in the natural healing of community members. This study describes the present-day role of Señora Fausta Pairo Mollo, the midwife in the altiplano region of Parinacota. In particular, it examines how her practices has been integrated into the official medical system, while also investigating how …

Herbs, Qur’An, And Mashetani: Practice, Use, Perception, And Integration Of Traditional Medicine In Bodo, Elan Ebeling

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study examines the practice, use and perception of traditional medicine in the rural village of Bodo, on the south coast of Kenya. This paper surveys the different types, treatments, and education of traditional medical practitioners, as well as assesses the accessibility of both traditional and conventional medicine facilities. Secondly, it addresses the perceptions of different community members of illness and healthcare, and, in the light of recent attempts to integrate traditional medicine into the national healthcare system, examines how these perceptions work in conjunction with accessibility to influence the use of healthcare.

The Integration Of Traditional And Western Medicine In Ngaoundéré, Cameroon, Alison Hardy

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The purpose of this study was to examine how patients in Ngaoundéré Cameroon integrate traditional and Western medicine, and how they perceive such integration on the part of their health care providers. Interviews were conducted with thirty-five patients of the Hôpital Provincial and of traditional medical practitioners in the neighbourhood of Yarmbang. Both modern and traditional health care providers were also interviewed. Patients generally believe that the two types of medicine have different strengths related to cost, accessibility, accuracy of diagnosis and treatment, ability to treat certain illnesses, and practitioners’ understanding of patients’ culture. Patients decide whether to use modern …

The Influence Of Medicinal Plants On The Spiritism, Religion, And Science Of Tulear, Madagascar, Meghan Sweet

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Medicinal plants are polyvalent remedies used in industry and medicine. They have curative and preventative powers when used internally and externally on humans. They are also used for agricultural and veterinary purposes. They are necessary to the human body to give health and strength. Medicinal plants influence spiritism, religion, and science. These three worldviews make value judgments regarding medicinal plants. This study determines some limits and interdependencies of each worldview by looking at how they are influenced by medicinal plants in Tulear, Madagascar.

Understanding Mental Health From A Candomblé Perspective, Kerilyn Daniel

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Candomblé is an Afro-Brazilian religion that has a strong presence in Brazil as a religious institution as well as a health center. Many turn to the houses of Candomblé (terreiros) for healing from not only physical ailments but mental illnesses as well. Candomblé has been very effective in healing mental illnesses even when Western medicine has proved ineffective. I have sought to understand how Candomblé perceives mental health and the treatment of mental illness. I have examined how they diagnose mental illnesses, how they understand the nature of the illness, and their healing methods. I have also explored more general …

Faith As A Means Of Healing: Traditional Medicine And The Ethiopian Orthodox Church In And Around Lalibela, Lauren Anderson

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper examines and explores the relationship between indigenous medical traditions in Ethiopia and the healing rituals of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. The practices still upheld by the Church today are explored in depth as is the prevalence of debtera, church educated traditional healers in Ethiopia. The relationship between traditional and modern modes of medical treatment in Ethiopia is explored as well as the legitimacy of both church healing and alternative medicine worldwide. Present research into the benefits of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) including mind/body healing is also examined.

Dai Medicine: Preservation Of And Changes In Ancient Healing Practices, Geoffroy Fauchet

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This independent study project discusses the general concept and theories of Dai medicine and focuses on the conservation of and transformation that both, the traditional and modern Dai medical system have undergone over time.

The Missing Piece: Understanding Nairobi’S Traditional Medical Practitioners, Mufaddal Dahodwala

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Currently, there is a problem of access to biomedical health services to large portions of Nairobi’s population. Traditional herbal medicine has long been practiced in Kenya, and though studies have shown that traditional medicine has been effective against certain acute and chronic illnesses, it has been marginalized in the health service sector. By integrating traditional medicine into mainstream healthcare, a larger proportion of the Kenyan population will be able achieve access to adequate health services. However, there has not been enough discussion about traditional medicine from a holistic point of view. Without adequate discussion, traditional medicine will remain in the …

Letters Of The Bush: A Case Study Of Traditional Setswana Herbal Medicine, Kristen Danley

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Traditional medicinal techniques in southern Africa are under-studied, but they continue to play an important role in many people’s lives. In addition to its anthropological value, traditional medicine also has the potential to lead to new treatments for diseases. This study proposed to document the plants and methods used by a traditional healer in the village of Goo-Tau, Tswapong Hills region, Central District, Botswana.

The study was conducted over a period of three weeks through a series of interviews. Samples were collected of selected plant species. Plants were identified both during and after the study through field guides and consultation …

La Medicina Mapuche: Cosmovisión E Identidad, Pérdida Y Recuperación, Claudia Grace Lesser

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Perceptions of health and illness vary depending on culture, tradition, history, ethnicity and identity. As cultures change and construct their stories, the practices and belief systems surrounding health also shift, develop and are expressed in different ways. With these patterns in mind, the purpose of this essay is to examine the traditional medicine of the Mapuche people of southern Argentina and focus on how aspects of this medicine have been lost, re-shaped, sustained and recuperated. The role that traditional medicine plays in the lives of Mapuches today in the context of modern medicine is explored specifically through practices surrounding maternity …

Malaria Prevention And Treatment In The Province Of Toliara, Madagascar: A Socioeconomic And Cultural Perspective Of Supermoustiquaire Use And Healing, Lily Conover

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

To preface my intentions, I never find myself viewing this place passively; I cannot help but be constantly attuned to the small struggles, conflicts, and successes that take place on a minute by minute basis as I roll through a village in a taxi-brousse or fly over the countryside in an airplane. I chose to study malaria in south-eastern Madagascar not only because it may have chosen me first, but because it is one of those continual struggles that is taking place between a plasmodium and red blood cells, families, communities, cultures, ethnicities, economic sectors, governmental agencies, and non-governmental organizations …

Embracing The Demons Within: Spiritual Possession And Mental Health Support In Madagascar, Thomas Cody Swift

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Possession, and the systems of mental health support existing under the same spiritual paradigm, inherently address and serve to instigate a change in the entirety of one’s life. The two traditional systems of mental health support in Madagascar, tromba spirit healers and Protestent exorcisms, appear to differ in doctine and tradition and have been proposed to be fundementally incompatible because of “conflicting or alternative epistemological realities” (Sharp, 525). The goals of this research, however, will be to identify the contextual and functional trends of the two systems that exist to support and ameliorate the mental health of the Malagasy people. …

Avoid Cold: A Brief Look At Tibetan Medical Practice And Ideals Compared To Modern Allopathic Medical Treatment Through A Study And Analysis Of The Essential Tremor, Graham Brant-Zawadzki

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

For hundreds of years, western science understood the material world as a set of individual objects assembled into an impossibly large and complex machine. This mechanistic ideology, dubbed reductionism, finds its roots in the mathematical theories of Newton, the philosophy of Descartes, and the methodological approaches proposed by Francis Bacon. The culmination of these ideologies lead to the belief that all complex systems could be understood and ultimately mastered by reducing them to their basic elements. Some texts, including Fritjof Capra's The Turning Point argue that once classical physicists established this type of thought, the other sciences, including medicine, simply …

Indigenous Healing Practices And Their Effect On Tb And Hiv/Tb Patients’ Utilization And Compliance With Anti-Tb Medication, Josephine Thinwa

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

A sample of 27 Tuberculosis patients attending New Brighton Clinic in small urban community for treatment were surveyed and interviewed on their use of alternative treatments and interpretation of TB. This study specifically focused on TB patients’ use of traditional medicine in treating TB and whether this use had an effect on the patients’ willingness to utilize and adherence to anti-TB treatment from the clinic. Investigations were also done to characterize if an HIV positive status influenced TB patients’ inclination to utilize traditional medicine. Through a focus group discussion with three traditional healers, information was provided on traditional medicine and …