The focus of our field works is maternal and child health. We were privileged to conduct two group sessions with groups of 10-15 ladies to obtain a snapshot of the health status in Bad Majra. We asked questions such as: Did most of your deliveries occur at home or in the hospital? Why didn't you deliver at the hospital since it is free? Did you use midwifes during your home deliveries? Did you take prenatal vitamins? Most answers were as we expected except one: What do you think is the biggest health problem in your community? While glancing at one another, the ladies answered, "Nothing really except in the summers we get heat rash." This took us aback considering all around us were signs of malnutrition, anemic pregnant mothers, and vitamin deficiency. It was also clear that most children had diarrhea. In fact in one of our group discussions, one of the toddlers proceeded to defecate showing serious signs of diarrhea.
The age old saying "ignorance is bliss" comes to mind. The predicament for us now is if the population thinks they have no health problems, are we coming in and creating new ones for them by pointing out things they are ignorant of? Infant mortality in Punjab is currently 38 per 1000 live births which is much higher than the government goal of 30 per 1000. So we, as educated public health students, know that ignorance is NOT bliss because people are dying unnecessarily due to preventable causes. How do YOU think we can address the imbalance between perceived happiness and reality??
The age old saying "ignorance is bliss" comes to mind. The predicament for us now is if the population thinks they have no health problems, are we coming in and creating new ones for them by pointing out things they are ignorant of? Infant mortality in Punjab is currently 38 per 1000 live births which is much higher than the government goal of 30 per 1000. So we, as educated public health students, know that ignorance is NOT bliss because people are dying unnecessarily due to preventable causes. How do YOU think we can address the imbalance between perceived happiness and reality??
wild! Sim you had already told me about this, but I am still blown away. I guess it really shows that health is an entirely flexible and changing concept in different societies.
ReplyDeleteAnd do you have the right to go in and tell everyone they're not healthy? Good point! But, when babies and kids are dying, I agree that something needs to be done....
Perhaps if there was another focus group, you could start with some conversations around children/adults who have died... why did they die? what killed them? how could this have been stopped (presuming this is perceived as something that can be prevented by human action?)... or talk about the children with diarrhoea, how they seem more tired/less playful when they have lots of it? (if this is even the case?)
hmmmm, medical anthro would come in handy! surely there's some PhD students out there who've done their dissertation on health beliefs among the poor of Punjab...
excited for you to be using ur PH learning! forge ahead ladies!!
I agree that where there is an opportunity to step and help save lives, you should take it. I'm sure many of these women look at you and other public health workers and think, "Here are these people coming from a comfortable life in America trying to teach us how to live when we have more important things to worry about," (but..u know, in Punjabi) and for them, I guess finding a way to get proper prenatal care is not as imperative as putting food on the table that night. But something has to be done to break the cycle and prevent these unnecessary deaths. I think although you may encounter hostility and skepticism, there is no harm that can come out of educating these people on how to improve the health and safety of their children and themselves. And their children need to learn by example and grow up understanding the importance of health care, which apparently has not been an issue of significance for these families.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you girls will find a way to gain their trust and respect, and help to work through these issues. Good luck and keep writing!