Cultural Competence: Indian Culture and Healthcare

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Table of Contents

Indian culture towards healthcare
Indian culture toward disease process
Indian culture towards health care providers
Prominent Diseases
Beliefs of Indians towards diet and preventive medicine
Roles of Indian men and women, authority figures, children, and elders
Indian practices toward birth and maternal/child health
References

Indian culture towards healthcare

The provision of quality health care in India has been a challenge due to the numerous social-cultural challenges facing healthcare. Cultural differences of people in India affect their attitude towards medical care. They have believed in traditions and natural medicines. Indian medicine is a concoction of secular medicine and religion Termenon (2006). This involves observation of the patient and his natural environment.

The Indian society uses a traditional system of treatment called Ayurveda, which means knowledge of life. Modern medicine is concerned with treatment while Ayurveda is concerned with prevention. For example, according to Indians, fever is due to poisoning or injury and its treatment is fasting to eliminate toxins. Causes of the common cold are weak digestion and according to Indians, its treatment is a mixture of ginger with honey taken three times a day.

Indian culture toward disease process

Indians believe that supernatural powers cause hypertension, diabetes, and heart disease according to Indian culture. They promote prayers and spiritual intervention as a cure for these diseases. Indians have great respect for the elderly people in society. They take them with high regard and their authority is unquestionable. They believe that, if somebody disobeyed or had a disagreement with the elderly he would suffer from the diseases mentioned above. According to Indians, people who practice witchcraft cause these diseases Termenon (2006). They believed that, if this disease infected one, he would not recover. They also believed that, the disease was heredity and that if one member of the family suffered from one of the diseases, chances that somebody from the same family would contract the disease are high.

Indian culture towards health care providers

They are caregivers in society; they provide physical needs, give advice on disease prevention, and provide an environment conducive to healing. They bridge the gap between the community and hospitals by giving treatment in different avenues Mim (2006).

Prominent Diseases

The diseases that are prevalent among these people are cardiovascular diseases (CDV) such as hypertension, diabetes, rheumatic heart, cancer, and HIV/AIDS. The causes of diseases are psychosocial factors, cholesterol, poor diet, excessive alcohol intake, poor eating habits, tobacco intake, and physical inactivity.

Beliefs of Indians towards diet and preventive medicine

Indians view diet as the main source of preventive care. They have specific diets when affected by various diseases. They use edible herbs, leaves, tree barks, stems, and seeds to treat diseases Akhtar (2004).

Roles of Indian men and women, authority figures, children, and elders

Women

In Indian society, women’s responsibility was that of expressive role. Their main responsibility was that of childbearing, taking care of the family, and doing domestic chores such as cleaning the house, clothes dishes, and taking care of the husband. Women are carriers of societal culture.

Men

Men play leadership roles such as head of the family, they are spiritual leaders, medicine men, and arbitrated community matters. They provided security to the family.

Elderly

Indians have a high appreciation of elderly family members. All Indians protect the elderly since they give wise counsel to people in the society and their life experiences. They give consultations on national issues and family decisions. They teach the youngsters the history of the tribes so that they keep their traditions alive Mim (2006).

Indian practices toward birth and maternal/child health

Indians believed that male midwives should not touch their babies. They believed that only God and their husband have the moral authority to see them naked. Women resisted getting services from non-Indians. Indians had a ritual that if a baby failed to come, the woman would drink a purple onion boiled in beer for the baby to come out and if the labor failed to progress, the woman would drink water where the mother-in-law had dipped his toe. The woman shouted uncontrollably during childbirth Akhtar (2004).

References

Akhtar, R. (2004). India: Health Care Patterns and Planning. New Delhi: APH Publishing.

Mim, D. (2006). Strategies for Cultural Competency in Indian Health Care. New York: American Public Health Association.

Termenon, E. (2008). Cross-Cultural Competence. Boston: Lambert Academic Publishing.

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