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Title The socio-cultural context of health behaviour among Esan communities, Edo State, Nigeria
Full text http://hdl.handle.net/1885/41204
Date 1993
Author(s) Omorodion, Francisca I.
Abstract This paper reports on health beliefs and their influence on treatment decisions and behaviour among the Esan people of mid-west Nigeria. The sources for the study are my own experience of growing up in Esan society, anthropological field work, and focus groups. The research revealed a transitional society where both traditional and modern medicine are employed and where the choice between them is determined by belief systems which are themselves in the process of change, as well as by distance and costs. The traditional health-belief system was one which placed most responsibility and blame upon women, and a system of social control over the adult female population. Changing health beliefs are less the result of the introduction of a new health philosophy than of the retreat, under the impact of Christianity, of traditional religion which embodied the older health philosophy. - no
Subject(s) health behaviour; Esan; Nigeria; health beliefs; treatment decisions; traditional medicine; position of women; mdcn-hlth; mdcn-pblc; scls-sclg
Language en_AU
Publisher Health Transition Centre, National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, The Australian National University
Type of publication pjournal
Format 37696 bytes; application/pdf
Rights yes
Identifier oct; 2; 125-135; Health Transition Review; 3; 1993; 446
Repository Canberra - Australian National University
Added to C-A: 2008-12-22;02:00:23