India Health Care and Culture

  Cultural Beliefs on Health

Believe in Ayruveda: "knowledge of life"

More than 80% rely on herbal remedies

Believe disease is caused by karma

Religious Beliefs on Healthcare:

Believe in supernatural forces

Believe that eating too many sweets causes roundworms

Too much sexual activity is associated with tuberculosis

Specific Health Issues:

 the highest TB prevalence in the world, over 1.5 million children dead each year before their first birthday

Nearly 500 million children lack sufficient nutrition

The second highest number of people living with HIV/AIDS

Women frequently suffer with anemia

15% of citizens have health insurance

Health Care Offered in India:

Revenues and taxes pay for free health care

U niversal system of health care

Primary health care is provided by city and district hospitals and rural primary health centres for free.

Primary care is focused on immunization, prevention of malnutrition, pregnancy, child birth, postnatal care, and treatment of common illnesses

Government hospital are provided by taxpayers and charge little for services

Beliefs on Pain:

Won't exhibit pain

Believed to be punishment from God, and should be endured with courage

Health care providers focus on nonverbal aspects of pain

Women in Healthcare

Women typically manage the home

Men are more involved in providing healthcarea

Beginning to change in larger cities

Personal Space Issues/Eye Contact

Not use to having a lot of personal space

Don't touch them during conversation

Women don't make eye contact usually

Diet:

Use aromatic spices

A lot are vegetarian

Eat coconuts, rice, dahl, and mangos

Overeating is thought to decrease life span

Tea is the most popular drink

Languages:

1. Assamese.

2. Bengali.

3. Gujarati.

4. Hindi.

5. Kannada.

6. Kashmiri.

7. Konkani.

8. Malayalam.

9. Manipuri.

10. Marathi.

11. Nepali.

12. Oriya.

13. Punjabi.

14. Sanskrit.

15. Sindhi.

16. Tamil.

17. Telugu.

18. Urdu.

Translations:

Tell me what is wrong with you?

मुझे यह बताना आप के साथ क्या गलती

   How bad does it hurt? 

यह किस प्रकार बुरा आहत हुई हैं

http://indiatogether.org/health/

http://healthgov.net/

http://www.fsdinternational.org/ntlopps/country/india/healthissues

http://www.med.umich.edu/multicultural/ccp/culture/hindu.htm