What social factors contribute to the tragic state of health care in Africa?
Focusing on East African societies, this book is the first to investigate what role religion plays in health care in African cultures. Taking into account the geopolitical and economic environments of the region, the authors examine the roles played by individual and group beliefs, government policies, and pressure from the Millennium Development Goals in affecting health outcomes.
Informed by existing related studies, and on-the-ground interviews with individuals and organizations in Uganda, Mozambique and Ethiopia, this interdisciplinary book will form an invaluable resource for scholars seeking to better understand the links between society, multi-level state instruments, and health care in East Africa.
. The officials thought the educational levels of members of each category to be roughly equivalent, again agreeing with scholarly research. They 97 noted that Muslims on the Indian Ocean coast of the country use both Western-style and traditional healers (curandeiros), but do not emphasize divine healing as do the Christian miracle churches.8 One interviewee serves as a Christian pastor at the head of a (non- miracle) church largely comprised of Africans from neighboring countries of anglophone (English-speaking) Africa. The pastor is from outside of
community pressured the authorities towards a solution based on traditional medicine, with the collaboration of local witchdoctors/ curandeiros . On the other hand, authorities from the Health Ministry ruled that out, favouring clinical and psychological examinations based on Western practices. The dissociation and the changes in psychomotor activity continued until they ended spontaneously after a few months. However, in the meantime, a traditional religious service for summoning the spirits, including animal sacrifice, was conducted. A brief overview of Mozambican
