Reference no: EM132392610 , Length: word count : 250
Culture and Health
Culture can be thought of as a set of practices and behaviors defined by customs, habits, language, geography that groups of individuals share. It is commonly said that familiar illnesses (both communicable and non-communicable) affects individuals and household health, community and state economies. Culture varies widely across societies and should not be defined by measures of clinical care and disease. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. It is a fundamental right of everyone.
There are several health and health care practices that are related to culture and science-oriented clinicians, disease specialists and policy makers cannot ignore the culture of every individual when it comes to health care practices and believes. According to Nova Scotia, 2005; health is a cultural concept because culture frames and shapes how we perceive the world and our experiences. Along with other determinants of health and disease, culture helps to define how patients and health care providers view health and illnesses. The effect of culture affects behaviors in hospital, assisted live in facilities, nursing homes and other health care settings.
The accountability of culture for clinical malpractice also suggest that examination of culture holds the key to good practice. Examples of some cultural practices of people from West Africa (Nigeria in particular) that promotes health amongst women include the practice of breastfeeding. In Efik and Ibibio culture, it is a common practice for mothers to breastfeed their children for a long period of time. This is a good practice as breast milk is far better than any other food a child can receive within the first six months to one year of the child's life.
It is also common practice for women who just deliver a baby to be on a special diet, as it is believed by people from this culture that this special diet helps the woman to regain all the nutrient that she must have lost during pregnancy. Some harmful cultural practices and disease conditions that are common amongst the people from Southern Nigeria include the use of cow-dung to clear the umbilical cord of newborn babies, after childbirth. This might result to infection caused by a bacterium called Clostridium tetani (Ojua, et al; 2013).. Female and male circumcision is practice in at least 26 countries in the continent of Africa (Myers, 1997).
It is always very necessary to develop a guide to help professional understand cultural preferences when providing health care to different cultural groups, as the cultural practices of people affects their health and all other aspects of life.
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