Alternative and Complementary Medicine Commons^™

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 …