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Claus Peter Hansen, Solvej Skriver Petersen, Mads Falk, Sara Krüger (IMCC), 2005.
The community members generally had good knowledge about the clinic at the services available at the clinic, however they still do not patronise the Clinic very much. The most feared diseases were snakebite, malaria, hernia, diarrhoea among other diseases. Generally the most feared diseases can be treated at the clinic. The community members gave clear descriptions of symptoms, but they could not always relate to symptoms to the scientific descriptions of the same illnesses that are used at the clinic.
The causes for diseases mentioned by the community members were almost all of an environmental character such as the hot sun, work in the farm and weather in general. Therefore the general perception was that there are no modes of prevention for the diseases. In connection with treatment for the most feared diseases the people generally ranked the clinic and the hospital as the best place to be treated. They, however, often combine the treatment at the clinic with local herbs and herbalists. Therefore it makes no sense to ask the local people to choose between the local and the scientific medicine when these two are always combined. The community members seek the clinic after an unsuccessful local treatment whereas the use of local treatment does not exclude use of the HC as the two ways are generally combined.
The people generally like the clinic and the people that work there and they depend on the clinic, however, some problems were identified:
- Unaffordable services
- Lack of drugs
- Absence of staffs
- Misunderstandings and miscommunication
Choice of Treatment depends on
- Money - they choose to wait and use the local treatment because it is cheaper
- Access - they complain about far distances to the clinic (they work in farms far
from the HC)
- Rather wait and see if the illness will go away by itself or use the "local way"
- Expectations that the clinic cannot provide the services needed
- Feeling welcomed
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