Local Health Practice Research Articles

Ethnomedicinal survey of anti-urolithiatic medicinal plants used in the region of Mascara, Algeria

Objective: To conduct an ethnomedicinal survey and conserve traditional medicinal practices in the Mascara region of northwestern Algeria. In this region, traditional medicinal knowledge has primarily been transmitted orally, and the study aims to document it in written form for better utilization in the field of pharmacology. Methods: Purposive sampling with semi-structured questionnaires was adopted with ethnobotanical data obtained from 135 local informants, including 22 herbalists. The study participants were asked about their sociodemographic profiles and ethnomedicinal knowledge about anti-urolithiatic medicinal plants. Results: Sixty-three anti-urolithiatic species belonging to 59 genera and 32 families were inventoried. All plants are prescribed orally, and decoction presents the most common preparation method (46.0%). Seeds are the most used parts (27.0%). The most frequent botanical families were Apiaceae, Lamiaceae, Fabaceae, and Rosaceae. The predominant anti-urolithiatic plants are Herniaria hirsute L., Hordeum vulgare L., Linum usitatissimum L., Zea mays L., Lavandula angustifolia Mill., and Apium graveolens L. Conclusions: This study highlights the diversity of the phytotherapeutic practices used against urolithiasis in the region of Mascara. It also suggests that ethnomedicine is well-entrenched in local health practices in this area. However, this knowledge acquired by the local inhabitants over the centuries risks disappearing since it is mainly held by older people and is not documented.

A One Health Approach to Level Up Ethnoveterinary Practises in Rural India: A Pilot Project among the Local Community of Doddaballapur (Karnataka)

Abstract The project aimed at introducing the local health practices attributed to animals for their health and production through immediate available resources among local communities in India. The traditional practices of nearly 20 clinical conditions of animal health were introduced to the farmers of the specified geographical area under Doddaballapur taluka name Shravanur and Koogonahalli of Doddaballapur, Karnataka, India. In these two villages nearly seventy–eight dairy farmers, who are depending on dairy for their livelihood, underwent intensive training on traditional animal health practices, which were documented and assessed by The University of Transdisciplinary Health Sciences and Technology (TDU). In order to effectively create change in the daily practises, we engage in a transdisciplinary process including all stakeholder from the milk sector (venetian, dairy milk farmer). Such transdisciplinary training and empowering programs helped the farmers in preventing the diseases and managing them in a more sustainable way and at the same time to meet the dairy milk federation needs both in term of quality and quantity. Information © The Authors 2024

Local knowledge and derived practices of safety during pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum: a qualitative study among nurse-midwives in urban eastern Tanzania

BackgroundMaternal and newborn mortality are still high in low-income and middle-income countries despite global efforts to improve the quality of care by prioritising evidence-based practices and increasing the number of...

Developing Graduate Medical Education Partnerships in American Indian/Alaska Native Communities.

Developing Graduate Medical Education Partnerships in American Indian/Alaska Native Communities.

Local health practices and the knowledge of medicinal plants in a Brazilian semi-arid region: environmental benefits to human health.

BackgroundThe concept of eco-cultural health considers the dynamic interaction between humans and ecosystems, emphasizing the implications of the health of the ecosystem for the health and well-being of human populations. Ethnobotanical studies focusing on folk medicine and medicinal plants can contribute to the field of eco-cultural health if they incorporate the perspective and local knowledge of communities. We investigated the local health practices in three rural communities living within the vicinity of a protected area of sustainable use in a semi-arid region of Brazil. We analyzed the opinions of local health experts on the elements that influence human health and on how the environment contributes to this influence. We also analyzed and compared the local knowledge of medicinal plants, as knowledge of this type is an important factor when considering the interaction between environmental and human health.MethodsWe performed structured interviews and free-listings with 66 local health experts. We used content analysis to systematize the elements of the influences on human health. We compared the richness of the plants cited among communities and analyzed the differences among the three communities regarding the ways in which the plants were obtained and the environments in which plants were collected.ResultsThe local experts identified several influences of the environment on human health. These influences can be associated with ecosystem services, such as climatic conditions, water and air quality, recreation and medicinal and food resources. We identified 192 medicinal plant species, most of which were gathered from wild ecosystems. The most important environments for the three communities were the plateau mountain and backyards.ConclusionsThe informants had a broad and integrated view of health, perceiving the importance of conserving the environment within the National Forest of Araripe for the health and well-being of the local populations.

Cultural barriers to effective communication between Indigenous communities and health care providers in Northern Argentina: an anthropological contribution to Chagas disease prevention and control

IntroductionNinety percent of the aboriginal communities of Argentina are located in areas of endemic vectorial transmission of Chagas disease. Control activities in these communities have not been effective. The goal of this research was to explore the role played by beliefs, habits, and practices of Pilaga and Wichi indigenous communities in their interaction with the local health system in the province of Formosa. This article contributes to the understanding of the cultural barriers that affect the communication process between indigenous peoples and their health care providers.MethodsTwenty-nine open ended interviews were carried out with members of four indigenous communities (Pilaga and Wichi) located in central Formosa. These interviews were used to describe and compare these communities’ approach to health and disease as they pertain to Chagas as well as their perceptions of Western medicine and its incarnation in local health practice.ResultsFive key findings are presented: 1) members of these communities tend to see disease as caused by other people or by the person’s violation of taboos instead of as a biological process; 2) while the Pilaga are more inclined to accept Western medicine, the Wichi often favour the indigenous approach to health care over the Western approach; 3) members of these communities do not associate the vector with the transmission of the disease and they have little awareness of the need for vector control activities; 4) indigenous individuals who undergo diagnostic tests and accept treatment often do so without full information and knowledge; 5) the clinical encounter is rife with conflict between the expectations of health care providers and those of members of these communities.ConclusionOur analysis suggests that there is a need to consider the role of the cultural patterning of health and disease when developing interventions to prevent and control Chagas disease among indigenous communities in Northern Argentina. This is especially important when communicating with these communities about prevention and control. These research findings might also be of value to national and provincial agencies in charge of decreasing the rates of Chagas disease among indigenous populations.

Community desires for an online health information strategy

To determine whether the community's attitudes to components of a community eHealth strategy differ across three different socioeconomic groups. A survey questionnaire was designed and implemented across three different communities. Paper-based surveys were left in community organisations and local health practices in a low socioeconomic community on the outskirts of Ipswich, Queensland (n = 262), a mid-high socioeconomic community in the western suburbs of Brisbane (n = 256) and at a local university (n = 200). Ascribed importance and comfort with proposed components of a community eHealth strategy. A community-oriented health website was perceived as useful in getting access to relevant health information. Those who were most comfortable with accessing online health information were those who were: experienced, had home internet access and were frequent internet users. The most important types of health information for the website were: information about the treatment of conditions, how to manage a chronic illness, how to stay healthy and patient clinical pathways. The low socioeconomic community had different information priorities – all categories were considered more important, particularly information about how the public system operates, local health support groups, and the roles of health professionals. Different communities have different information demands but there is a strong demand for information which empowers community members to take control of their own health and become active participants in their health care. Tools such as a community health portal and patient clinical pathways should become more available.

Enhancing innovation between scientific and indigenous knowledge: pioneer NGOs in India

BackgroundUntil recently, little attention has been paid to local innovation capacity as well as management practices and institutions developed by communities and other local actors based on their traditional knowledge. This paper doesn't focus on the results of scientific research into innovation systems, but rather on how local communities, in a network of supportive partnerships, draw knowledge for others, combine it with their own knowledge and then innovate in their local practices. Innovation, as discussed in this article, is the capacity of local stakeholders to play an active role in innovative knowledge creation in order to enhance local health practices and further environmental conservation. In this article, the innovative processes through which this capacity is created and reinforced will be defined as a process of "ethnomedicine capacity".MethodsThe field study undertaken by the first author took place in India, in the State of Tamil Nadu, over a period of four months in 2007. The data was collected through individual interviews and focus groups and was complemented by participant observations.ResultsThe research highlights the innovation capacity related to ethnomedical knowledge. As seen, the integration of local and scientific knowledge is crucial to ensure the practices anchor themselves in daily practices. The networks created are clearly instrumental to enhancing the innovation capacity that allows the creation, dissemination and utilization of 'traditional' knowledge. However, these networks have evolved in very different forms and have become entities that can fit into global networks. The ways in which the social capital is enhanced at the village and network levels are thus important to understand how traditional knowledge can be used as an instrument for development and innovation.ConclusionThe case study analyzed highlights examples of innovation systems in a developmental context. They demonstrate that networks comprised of several actors from different levels can synergistically forge linkages between local knowledge and formal sciences and generate positive and negative impacts. The positive impact is the revitalization of perceived traditions while the negative impacts pertain to the transformation of these traditions into health commodities controlled by new elites, due to unequal power relations.

Getting Better at Implementation

If you something you find interesting, you will learn something interesting. This quote is from Atul Gawande, surgeon and author of Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance (Picador, 2008), in which he engagingly describes the difficulties and successes confronted when new knowledge requires changes in practice. He describes how--under the very best of conditions and good intentions--implementation can fail, yet under the worst of conditions, the opposite can occur. The keys to improved performance in medicine, Dr. Gawande says, are doing right, ingenuity, and diligence. The parallels for education are striking. Gawande tells how, when data clearly showed that the rate of hospital infections could be lowered if staff always thoroughly washed their hands before touching patients, it seemed like an easy fix: Require hand washing before touching a patient. Hospital staff bought into the logic and tried to follow the rules, yet only complied one-third to one-half as often as they needed to comply. Sometimes, they skipped this critical step because of the unbearable dryness caused from many, many hand washings a day. Other gaps in implementation happened for simple reasons, such as not wanting to offend the family member who warmly greeted the doctor with outstretched hand, thwarting the doctor's intention to follow germ-free guidelines. Ingenuity Yet Dr. Gawande also describes how medical personnel in challenging Third World environments often get results. His stories range from the doctor who had to send a family member to the local hardware store for the plastic tubing he needed to do emergency surgery to the field staff trying to improve local health practices. When health workers tried to disseminate proven means of improving children's nutrition, they were faced with a consistent lack of community support. Community leaders would nod their heads in agreement, but when the medical staff left, they went back to their old practices. So ingenious health workers asked local leaders to determine whether any children in the community were healthier than the rest, and to find out why. Those leaders did identify a local mother whose children were far healthier, and they were able to see how she had successfully adapted local food sources and prepared food in a noncustomary manner. Dr. Gawande identifies such an innovator (the mother) as a deviant--an individual who identifies and takes a nontraditional route that gets positive results. With a little encouragement, the community began to model its practices after hers--improving children's nutrition in a manner more valued because it emerged locally and within cultural norms. Diligence Gawande defines diligence as the necessity of giving sufficient attention to detail to avoid error and prevail against obstacles. One means of giving sufficient attention to detail is counting something. (If you something you find interesting, you will learn something interesting.) Although he contends that it really doesn't matter what you count--as long as you count--it only makes sense to pay attention to the details of information that appear to matter. In education, we're beginning to get better at that. Campaign for Quality Education Data The latest state survey from the Data Quality Campaign finds that the number of states with data systems that can successfully count important facets of schooling has appeared to reach a tipping point. For example, state technology directors report that they can answer the following questions: * Which schools produce the strongest academic growth for their students? (39 states collect the data needed to answer this question, up from 21 in 2005.) * What achievement levels in middle school indicate that a student is on track to succeed in rigorous courses in high school? (12 states, up from 3 in 2005.) * What is the state's graduation rate, according to the calculation agreed to in the 2005 National Governors Association compact? …

Community health information sources — a survey in three disparate communities

To determine the current utilisation, importance, trust and future preference for contemporary sources of health information in three different socioeconomic groups. A pilot study including key informant interviews and direct observation was conducted in a low socioeconomic community. From this work a survey questionnaire was designed and implemented across three different communities. Semi-structured key informant interviews and focus groups capturing 52 respondents. Paper-based surveys were left in community organisations and local health practices in a low socioeconomic (LSE) community on the outskirts of Ipswich, Queensland, a mid-high socioeconomic (MSE) community in the western suburbs of Brisbane, and at a local university. Rank of current and preferred future sources of health information, importance and trustworthiness of health information sources. Across all three communities the local doctor was the most currently used, important, trusted and preferred future source of health information. The most striking difference between the three communities related to the current use and preferred future use of the internet. The internet was a more currently used source of health information and more important source in the university population than the LSE or MSE populations. It was also a less preferred source of future health information in the LSE population than the MSE or university populations. Importantly, currently used sources of health information did not reflect community members' preferred sources of health information. People in different socioeconomic communities obtain health information from various sources. This may reflect access issues, education and awareness of the internet as a source of health information, less health information seeking as well as a reluctance by the e-health community to address the specific needs of this group.

Strengthening epidemiologic competencies among local health professionals in New York: teaching evidence-based public health.

Starting in 2004, the New York State Department of Health and the University at Albany Prevention Research Center collaboratively developed a course entitled Evidence-Based Public Health for Local Health Practice to strengthen epidemiologic and other competencies of public health professionals in local health departments. This article describes the development of the course and its adaptation to the needs of local public health staff. The course utilizes didactic sessions, computer labs, and scenario-based exercises to demonstrate the use of data and evidence in the decision-making process. Follow-up surveys found that information and skills that emphasized epidemiologic competencies were likely to be used regularly or occasionally by the majority of participants. Half of the participants said that their agency's use of evidence-based public health practices had increased. Few respondents were trained as epidemiologists, yet most reported they used those skills in the workplace, suggesting a need to strengthen these competencies among non-epidemiologists.

Analyzing the Use of Race and Ethnicity in Biomedical Research from a Local Community Perspective

Lost in the debate over the use of racial and ethnic categories in biomedical research is community-level analysis of how these categories function and influence health. Such analysis offers a powerful critique of national and transnational categories usually used in biomedical research such as "African-American" and "Native American." Ethnographic research on local African-American and Native American communities in Oklahoma shows the importance of community-level analysis. Local ("intra-community") health practices tend to be shared by members of an everyday interactional community without regard to racial or ethnic identity. Externally created ("extra-community") practices tend to be based on the existence of externally-imposed racial or ethnic identities, but African-American and Native American community members show similar patterns in their use of extra-community practices. Thus, membership in an interactional community seems more important than externally-imposed racial or ethnic identity in determining local health practices, while class may be as or more important in accounting for extra-community practices.