Ethno-demographic grievances define the conflict between Buddhist and Rohingya-Muslim populations in the Rakhine State of Myanmar. Due to the government’s decision to avoid the enumeration of self-identifying Rohingya, this study has relied on several recent local surveys to reconstruct a local demographic description of the Rohingya.
The aim of this article is to contribute to this understanding of the wider health care system in a post-conflict Somali context, in particular in Somaliland. The fieldwork included participant observation and interviews of several local healers and their patients from the diaspora.
HIV and AIDS remains a starkly gendered epidemic in the African region. Sub-Saharan Africans represent 68 percent of HIV+ people globally, with an average of 13 women infected for every 10 men. While men as a group have lower prevalence rates than women, local studies have also shown that amongst men, men who have sex with men (MSM) face greater vulnerability to HIV infection than heterosexual men. These gendered realities make it imperative to analyse and contest the influence of sexist and homophobic fundamentalist actors on policy and popular discourse across Africa. Drawing on interviews with African and international HIV and AIDS activists, women’s rights activists, and academic and policy research, this case study explores the agendas, strategies, and influence of Christian fundamentalist actors in HIV and AIDS responses in the African region.
It examines how Christian fundamentalist engagement in the HIV and AIDS sector has supported the moralistic patriarchal discourses around sexuality,
This paper reviews and summarizes the available literature on Haitian mental health and mental health services. This review was conducted in light of the Haitian earthquake in January 2010. We searched Medline, Google Scholar and other available databases to gather scholarly literature relevant to mental health in Haiti. This was supplemented by consultation of key books and grey literature relevant to Haiti. The first part of the review describes historical, economic, sociological and anthropological factors essential to a basic understanding of Haiti and its people.
This includes discussion of demography, family structure, Haitian economics and religion. The second part of the review focuses on mental health and mental health services. This includes a review of factors such as basic epidemiology of mental illness, common beliefs about mental illness, explanatory models, idioms of distress,help-seeking behavior, configuration of mental health services and the relationship between religion and mental health.
The principle aim of this research was to investigate the roles of gender and religion in child-centred disaster risk reduction (DRR). Moreover, and through participatory research, informal conversations and direct advocacy, the project team hoped to build knowledge and awareness of child-centred DRR.
The research was also designed tov alidate findings from previous research by the wider project team and to provide a body of empirical evidence in support of child-centred DRR and the Children in a Changing Climate programme.
Containment strategies for Ebola rupture fundamental features of social, political and religious life. Control efforts that involve local people and appreciate their perspectives, social structures and institutions are therefore vital. Unfortunately such approaches have not been widespread in West Africa where response strategies have been predominantly top-down. Authoritarian tactics have had questionable effect, potentially worsening the epidemic and contributing to social and economic burdens. Failure to involve local people and their concerns is often justified by budgetary and practical restraints such as lack of time and resources.
However, some of the current Ebola responses reflect problematic assumptions about local ignorance and capability. These sentiments are deeply rooted, having evolved with unequal power dynamics over long periods of time. The emerging evidence on successful local responses suggests that local populations can learn rapidly to adjust high-risk traditional practices and reduce transmission in conjunction with solid public health measures.
