Abstract
The biomedical model, which is the predominant model in the Cameroon health-care system since the 1960s, has not been successful in conquering the population’s trust; the population is still quite loyal to traditional practices. In such a context, the State cannot successfully transmit preventive and educational messages solely by means of health professionals. This chapter describes two non-governmental organisations that overcome this challenge, namely, WESDE and PROSENAT. Their conception of sanitary risks is described, as well as practices they undertake, and put forth in order to raise people’s awareness and educate them. Individual interviews were conducted with nine health professionals (nonphysicians) of WESDE, all trained accordingly to the biomedical approach, and ten of PROSENAT, namely, four doctors and six traditional therapists. Thematic analyses were then carried out on the data. Furthermore, the practice of the six traditional therapists was observed. While the biomedical approach strictly prioritises material means to ensure health and environment safety, this study demonstrates the importance of utilising rituals and spiritual means, which are ignored by doctors. In contrast, the health professionals of WESDE hold a reflection on the dissemination of information, more particularly about the means of translating such messages, and on the importance of taking into account the relationship with targeted people and the contexts in which these people evolve.
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Notes
- 1.
‘Biomedicine’ is a term used to refer to traditional western medicine, where the principal characteristic is the focus on biology, to the detriment of other dimensions of human health, hence the prefix ‘bio’. In this work practitioners of this type of medicine are referred to as doctors.
- 2.
Canadian Development Agency.
- 3.
German technical cooperation.
- 4.
WESDE (Water Energy and Sanitation for Development); PROSENAT (Progrès Santé par Espèce Naturelle, [Health Progress through Natural Means]); these two NGOs are at the centre of the research presented here. More information on these organisations follows later in this chapter.
- 5.
Since 2008 Cameroon has been divided into regions rather than the former provinces.
- 6.
A cotton processing company; the products are used in the manufacture of textiles.
- 7.
A company processing animal skins; the products are used in the manufacture of shoes and leather bags.
- 8.
STIs are also referred to as sexually transmitted diseases (STD).
- 9.
Some examples of questions discussed during the preliminary interviews: how does one become a traditional therapist/seer? Is there someone with whom you follow an apprenticeship or who initiates you into the function of traditional therapist/seer? How is the power to heal transmitted from one person to another? Is there a path to follow or stages to go through in order to become a traditional therapist/seer? If so, could you describe the details of these stages? What is a pupil expected to know at the end of each stage? If you have received a gift, how is it passed on? How did you learn about the use of traditional medicinal plants?
- 10.
In order to preserve the anonymity of all those who took part in the research project, who are easily identifiable because of the small numbers involved and their connection with PROSENAT and WESDE, the text makes no mention, not even in coded form, of the name of the participant when quoting from the interviews.
- 11.
Over the past 10 years or so, problem-based learning has become the norm in most medical schools in North America and Europe.
- 12.
The members of WESDE are also referred to as facilitators, coordinators or educators and their activities encompass all these roles.
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November, V., Leanza, Y. (2015). Using and Communicating Information: Practices Adopted by Two NGOs in Cameroon. In: Risk, Disaster and Crisis Reduction. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08542-5_4
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