Traditional Health beliefs and practice

1. Traditional Health beliefs and practice Dr. Dina Qahwaji

2. Traditional health beliefs, practices • The beliefs and traditions of community members have an effect on the health of the community. • Traditional beliefs regarding specific health behaviors such as smoking can influence policy • e.g. on whether or not funds will be spent on antismoking laws or on some other matter such as highway transportation. Dr. Dina Qahwaji

3. These beliefs also influence the types of food, leisure activities, and health services available in a community. • Traditional health-related beliefs and practices among different ethnic groups fall into three groups: • beliefs that result in no harmful health effects • beliefs that may produce positive health outcomes • beliefs and traditions which have serious, harmful health outcomes. Dr. Dina Qahwaji

4. Harmless beliefs • Societies and cultures throughout the world are full with traditional health beliefs and practices close to fertility. • e.g. pregnant women in many Asian cultures are advised that if they eat blackberries their baby will have black spots, or that if they eat a twin banana they will give birth to twins. Dr. Dina Qahwaji

5. Recent investigations, however, concluded that certain beliefs and practices predicted neither lack of access to, nor underutilization of, health services. • In fact, individuals should not be discouraged from placing faith in such beliefs, as they may result in positive health outcomes. Dr. Dina Qahwaji

6. Chinese women believe it is very important to keep the pregnant mother's body hot because pregnancy is considered a "hot" condition.  It is believed that pregnant women must not eat tropical fruits or raw vegetable because these foods make them cold. Eggs and pig liver are also consumed to provide protein to make the child's eye "shiny" (good vision, beautiful eye shape). Dr. Dina Qahwaji

7. Positive health outcomes • The popular Western belief, "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,“ shows the value of prevention - the planning for and taking action to prevent the incidence of an unwanted event. • Prevention is more wanted than intervention, which is the taking of action during an event. Dr. Dina Qahwaji

8. Preventive activities include immunization for childhood diseases, the use of protective clothing or sunscreen to prevent skin cancer, health-education and health-promotion programs, the use of car belts and bicycle helmets. Dr. Dina Qahwaji

9. Cigarette smoking, the largest preventable cause of death and disability in developed countries (and a rapidly growing health problem in developing countries), is a classic example of a behavior for which an ounce of prevention is truly worth a pound of cure. Dr. Dina Qahwaji

10. Despite thousands of conclusive studies establishing cigarette smoking as a cause of cancer, and despite the resulting coughing, odor, and increasing socially unacceptable nature of this behavior, smoking rates remain high in certain population groups. Dr. Dina Qahwaji

11. A different story emerges for those who do quit smoking. Smokers who have quit for up to five years soon regain positive health benefits, such as less coughing, better breathing, and long life equal to individuals of the same age who have never smoked. Dr. Dina Qahwaji

12. Negative outcomes • On the other side of the scale are health beliefs and practices that result in physical harm or negative health outcomes. • Giving honey to a child during his first year of life is an example of a traditional practice with a negative health outcome. Dr. Dina Qahwaji