Global Health 401:
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This course was the main linker between my initial interest in global health (particularly the geography and international studies aspects) and my sense of how the global health perspective could inform my future academic work and career. Every week, we had a speaker from a different discipline applied to global health, and over the quarter we also read the book The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down. Below is my final essay reflecting on major themes in the course - including the concept of how socioeconomic factors affect health and the identification of three key characteristics and competencies for health professionals.
Excerpt:
I found the story of Lia Lee and her family very enlightening, as their interaction with doctors, social workers, and their local community revealed the many challenges and tragic misunderstandings that often occur when Western health professionals work with immigrant and international populations . . . It is important for health professionals to realize that understanding a patient’s social and cultural background is necessary in order to determine the best treatment to improve the patient’s health within the boundaries of the family’s capabilities, means, and wishes. In the case of the Lees, Hmong immigrants who came to the United States as war refugees searching for a place to live with the freedom to maintain their own cultural and religious practices, the doctors treating their daughter Lia did not take the initiative to understand the beliefs and situation of the family. Lia had epilepsy, which the Hmong believe to be caused by a bad spirit catching the afflicted person and causing their soul to become lost from the body. In Hmong culture, those with epilepsy have the potential to become shamans, so the condition is considered a gift despite the suffering it causes. The Lees wanted a treatment regimen that was part medical (Western drugs and procedures) and part spiritual (traditional Hmong practices), and they did not want the medical portion to be too invasive or require long-term dependence. Neither of Lia Lee’s parents could read, write, or speak English; thus they lacked the ability to follow complex treatment instructions. Since the doctors were unaware of many of these beliefs and circumstances, they could not take them into consideration when trying to determine the best treatment for Lia. |
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