107 research outputs found
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Perinatal mortality in Indonesia: an unfinished agenda
Full text linkPerinatal mortality is a profound issue in maternal and child health due to its close relation with the maternal condition. There exist Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which are to be achieved by 2015. These are coupled with a continuing need for comprehensively monitoring and identifying factors associated with perinatal mortality, which is a primary concern for developing countries inclusive of Indonesia. Previous and on-going health programs could have brought about strategic interventions but as different attributes can emerge due to epidemiological transition, and given the fact that associated factors may remain persistent, forward thinking strategies in public health are forever in need of renewal. Results from our research show that educational variables, poor awareness towards proper antenatal care visits and weak services at the front-line of healthcare delivery (community outreach) worsen the condition of childbearing women, raising the question of biological risk factors in line with socio-economic variables
Global Health and the Demands of the Day
Full text linkWe have two goals in this paper: first, to provide a diagnosis of global health and underline some of its blockages; second, to offer an alternative interpretation of what the demands for those in global health may be. The assumption that health is a "good" that requires no further explanation, and that per se it can serve as an actual modus operandi, lays the foundations of the problem. Related blockages ensue and are described using HIV prevention with a focus on vaginal microbicides as a case study. Taking health as a self-evident, and self-explanatory "good" limits other possible goods; and prevents further inquiry into the actual practices of creating good practices and good measures. We propose that to create conditions under which global health could be reconstructed, "problematization" be taken up as a practice, around a series of questions asked in conjunction with those ever-urgent ones of how to ameliorate the condition of living beings
Medical Error and Medical Truth: The Placebo Effect and Room for Choice in Ayurveda
Full text linkoai:ojs.hcs.pitt.edu:article/14I attempt to relativize allopathic medicine, or Modern Establishment Medicine (MEM), specifically in the context of the ayurvedic medical system of India, and to promote Daniel Moerman’s concept of the medical “meaning response” as a preferable conceptualization of the phenomena usually subsumed under the name “placebo.” Finally, I suggest that once these steps have been taken, a space opens up in which informed ayurvedic practice – indeed, any human activities aimed at promoting health – may find a valid place
Integrating Disability into Development in Eastern Indonesia: a Case Study in Theory versus Reality
Full text linkThis paper looks at patterns of Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) in two rural, isolated regions of Flores, Eastern Indonesia. It examines methods adapted by local NGOs to integrate children with disabilities (CWD) into the community as it also examines the major constraints that ensure CBR as an approach is far from being realized. While the paper argues for the necessity of a stronger guideline in defining disability and a more gendered focus in research and practice, it also shows how the various methods embraced by the donor agency (as well as the local implementing NGOs) raise many questions that need to be better understood for future disability activities in rural, low income communities
Physiologie du risque face à l’Histoire, or, Health, Culture and Society: The possibilities of anthropology and policy
Full text linkThis review of published research (Health, Culture and Society – Rawat Publications, India, 2000) seeks to introduce the reader to the driving themes of a work establishing the link between human physiological functions and social represetations. In doing so the author articulates the topic of prevention within a broad and complex social, historical and anthropological framework
Equity Aspects of Canadian Immunization Programs: Differences within and between countries
Full text linkThere is a global recognition that immunization is one of the most cost-effective public health interventions which should be available to everyone. The equity approach to immunization provides a holistic and integrated framework for addressing inequalities and disproportions in the realization of human rights. The aim of this study is to review the performance of the immunization programs in Canada through an equity lens using two analytical frameworks for immunization programs. It focuses on four elements of the programs: a) the burden of disease; b) immunization strategy; c) ability to evaluate; and d) research questions. To achieve universal access to vaccination, Canada should have a strong connection with human rights, where realities and outreach need to be prioritized. Preventable diseases such as influenza, H1N1, and varicella have been reported specifically in Aboriginal Canadians, immigrants and refugees. Our study seeks to demonstrate that access to vaccines should be considered one of the most vital human rights and as a matter of fundamental intervention to achieve health equity
