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Book Insights to the occult causes of epidemic diseases

Download or read book Insights to the occult causes of epidemic diseases written by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky and published by Philaletheians UK. This book was released on 2022-01-13 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Epidemics in moral and physical affairs are more now more rife than ever. The seeds of vice and crime spring up and bring forth fruit with appalling rapidity and paralyzing succession. The reciprocal relations between planetary bodies and man are as perfect as those between the red blood cells, which float in a common fluid. Each body, whether planetary of human, is affected by the combined influences of all and, in its turn, affects each and all. Pythagoras’ music of the spheres is more than a mere fancy, as certain planetary aspects may disturb the æther of our planet, while others may bring about rest and harmony. Some pathological conditions have a tendency to become rapidly spreading epidemics, influenced by causes unknown to modern science. Plato says that animal man is a son of necessity. A physically pure body will strengthen the soul which, though liable to err, will always side with reason against the lusts and proclivities of the body. The rapid growth of human intellect has paralysed spiritual perceptions. It is at the expense of wisdom that intellect thrives, and mankind is quite unprepared to comprehend the awful drama of disobedience of the laws of spiritual life and those governing natural life. The Sun is the Mind and Heart of our Cosmos. Its bright spots are the blood cells of that luminary. Its coronal changes have no effect upon the earth’s climate, but the sunspots have. The connection between sunspots and epidemics affecting plants is well-established, but the karmic influence of sunspots on the fortunes of man, the living barometer, is not even suspected. The current solar cycle of sunspot activity began in December 2019 and will continue for eleven years. The fact that the current COVID-19 pandemic also began in December 2019 is no coincidence. This is further evidence of the magnetic sympathy between man and the planetary orbs that rule and guide human destinies. In Occultism atoms are called vibrations; also sound, collectively. It is the sound that produces the colour, and not the other way around. By correlating the vibrations of a sound in the proper way, a new colour can be made. Now, if the nerves of the human body thrill in synch with a low form of life, such as a virus for example, the outcome of this abnormal chromatic vibration is likely to be an infection acquired by magnetic affinity. Epidemics such as cholera, are the consequence of man’s sin, though his neglect of hygienic laws, of cleanliness and good drainage, are preventable. But there are also climatic conditions, as those in the outbreak of cholera in 1884, when the epidemic seemed confined to certain areas, following some law of atmospheric currents. Number 9 represents the earth under the influence of an evil principle. It is a digit dreaded by the ancients, for its natural depravity is awful. Influenza epidemics have a mysterious predilection for royalty. That which is now called influenza was known before as the grippe, and the latter devastated Europe centuries before the cholera made its first appearance in the so-called civilized lands. Epidemics of influenza and other respiratory tract infections are often caused by an abnormal exuberance of ozone in the air. The real ozone is the Elixir of Life. Thought is neither less material nor less objective than the elusive germs of infectious diseases — current and continuously emerging — the causes of which are such a puzzle for modern science. Since the mind of a living person can psychologize another mind at will, so can the thought of a person already dead. Mental epidemics are often caused by sorcerers who arouse the earth-bound shadows of the dead to hallucinate the minds of good men. Moral taint is as communicable as the physical. Bad companions will degrade personal magnetism and this is more pernicious than the impressions conveyed to the eye or the ear. The latter may be repelled by avoiding seeing or hearing what is bad; but the moral poison of the former, floating in the air, enwraps the sensitive and penetrates his very being. A negatively polarized man, a man of a susceptible temperament, if exposed to a current of foul emanations from some vicious person will be absorb the insidious poison until he is saturated by it. Likewise, a susceptible body will absorb pathogenic microorganisms. The two best remedies for the sensitive to have his sensitiveness destroyed, is to change his negative polarity to positive, and to avoid passivity at all costs by maintaining full control of his mind at all times. While the fear that the presence of the dead brings pollution to the living is no better than a superstition, the real cause of the religious prohibition not to handle too closely the dead and to bury them without first subjecting the bodies to the disinfectant process of fire, vultures, or nitric acid, was as beneficent in its results as it was wise, since it was the best and most necessary sanitary precaution against epidemics. The Astral Light is no light, it is a huge storehouse of human corruption and degeneracy. It gives out nothing but what it has received; it is the great terrestrial crucible, in which the vile emanations of the earth (moral, psychic, and physical, upon which the Astral Light is fed) are all converted into their subtlest essence, radiated back intensified, and then spread as epidemics — moral, psychic, and physical.

Book Ethical and Legal Considerations in Mitigating Pandemic Disease

Download or read book Ethical and Legal Considerations in Mitigating Pandemic Disease written by Institute of Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2007-07-08 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In recent public workshops and working group meetings, the Forum on Microbial Threats of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) has examined a variety of infectious disease outbreaks with pandemic potential, including those caused by influenza (IOM, 2005) and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) (IOM, 2004). Particular attention has been paid to the potential pandemic threat posed by the H5N1 strain of avian influenza, which is now endemic in many Southeast Asian bird populations. Since 2003, the H5N1 subtype of avian influenza has caused 185 confirmed human deaths in 11 countries, including some cases of viral transmission from human to human (WHO, 2007). But as worrisome as these developments are, at least they are caused by known pathogens. The next pandemic could well be caused by the emergence of a microbe that is still unknown, much as happened in the 1980s with the emergence of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and in 2003 with the appearance of the SARS coronavirus. Previous Forum meetings on pandemic disease have discussed the scientific and logistical challenges associated with pandemic disease recognition, identification, and response. Participants in these earlier meetings also recognized the difficulty of implementing disease control strategies effectively. Ethical and Legal Considerations in Mitigating Pandemic Disease: Workshop Summary as a factual summary of what occurred at the workshop.

Book The Hidden Epidemic

    Book Details:
  • Author : Institute of Medicine
  • Publisher : National Academies Press
  • Release : 1997-03-28
  • ISBN : 030917547X
  • Pages : 446 pages

Download or read book The Hidden Epidemic written by Institute of Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 1997-03-28 with total page 446 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The United States has the dubious distinction of leading the industrialized world in overall rates of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), with 12 million new cases annually. About 3 million teenagers contract an STD each year, and many will have long-term health problems as a result. Women and adolescents are particularly vulnerable to these diseases and their health consequences. In addition, STDs increase the risk of HIV transmission. The Hidden Epidemic examines the scope of sexually transmitted infections in the United States and provides a critical assessment of the nation's response to this public health crisis. The book identifies the components of an effective national STD prevention and control strategy and provides direction for an appropriate response to the epidemic. Recommendations for improving public awareness and education, reaching women and adolescents, integrating public health programs, training health care professionals, modifying messages from the mass media, and supporting future research are included. The book documents the epidemiological dimensions and the economic and social costs of STDs, describing them as "a secret epidemic" with tremendous consequences. The committee frankly discusses the confusing and often hypocritical nature of how Americans deal with issues regarding sexualityâ€"the conflicting messages conveyed in the mass media, the reluctance to promote condom use, the controversy over sex education for teenagers, and the issue of personal blame. The Hidden Epidemic identifies key elements of effective, culturally appropriate programs to promote healthy behavior by adolescents and adults. It examines the problem of fragmentation in STD services and provides examples of communities that have formed partnerships between stakeholders to develop integrated approaches. The committee's recommendations provide a practical foundation on which to build an integrated national program to help young people and adults develop habits of healthy sexuality. The Hidden Epidemic was written for both health care professionals and people without a medical background and will be indispensable to anyone concerned about preventing and controlling STDs.

Book The Burdens of Disease

    Book Details:
  • Author : J. N. Hays
  • Publisher : Rutgers University Press
  • Release : 2009-10-15
  • ISBN : 0813548179
  • Pages : 390 pages

Download or read book The Burdens of Disease written by J. N. Hays and published by Rutgers University Press. This book was released on 2009-10-15 with total page 390 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A review of the original edition of The Burdens of Disease that appeared in ISIS stated, "Hays has written a remarkable book. He too has a message: That epidemics are primarily dependent on poverty and that the West has consistently refused to accept this." This revised edition confirms the book's timely value and provides a sweeping approach to the history of disease. In this updated volume, with revisions and additions to the original content, including the evolution of drug-resistant diseases and expanded coverage of HIV/AIDS, along with recent data on mortality figures and other relevant statistics, J. N. Hays chronicles perceptions and responses to plague and pestilence over two thousand years of western history. Disease is framed as a multidimensional construct, situated at the intersection of history, politics, culture, and medicine, and rooted in mentalities and social relations as much as in biological conditions of pathology. This revised edition of The Burdens of Disease also studies the victims of epidemics, paying close attention to the relationships among poverty, power, and disease.

Book Insights to the high idealism and quaint wit of Eliphas Levi

Download or read book Insights to the high idealism and quaint wit of Eliphas Levi written by Arthur Edward Waite, Boris Mihailovich de Zirkoff and published by Philaletheians UK. This book was released on 2022-07-07 with total page 22 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Intensely suggestive, he is at the same time without much depth; splendid in generalisation, he is without accuracy in detail. It would be difficult to cite a worse guide over mere matters of fact. Had Lévi been left to himself, he would not have got far in occult science because his Gallic vivacity would have been blunted too quickly by the horrors of studious research. But he did somehow fell within a circle of initiation which curtailed the necessity for such research, and put him in the right path. Lévi was scarcely a transcendentalist, not even a mystic. Instinctively a materialist, he approached perilously towards atheism as when he stated that God is a hypothesis which is “very probably necessary.” His prophetic utterances upon the mission of Napoleon III have been stultified by subsequent events. Éliphas Lévi reflected a high idealism and an inner revolt against the injustices of the times. To Madame Blavatsky he was “undoubtedly a great occultist,” but “being a charming and witty writer,” has “more mystified than taught in his many volumes on magic.” Under no circumstances did she look upon him as an Initiate or a practical occultist. His style is poetical and quite charming. But what has he really taught us? Nothing, absolutely nothing — except, perhaps, the exuberance of the French language and his quaint wit. Not one single aspirant has become an Occultist by following the teaching of the French magus simply because, though Lévi evidently got his secrets from an Initiate, he never received the right to initiate others, says Blavatsky.

Book The Ebola Epidemic in West Africa

    Book Details:
  • Author : National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
  • Publisher : National Academies Press
  • Release : 2016-12-30
  • ISBN : 0309450063
  • Pages : 137 pages

Download or read book The Ebola Epidemic in West Africa written by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2016-12-30 with total page 137 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The most recent Ebola epidemic that began in late 2013 alerted the entire world to the gaps in infectious disease emergency preparedness and response. The regional outbreak that progressed to a significant public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) in a matter of months killed 11,310 and infected more than 28,616. While this outbreak bears some unique distinctions to past outbreaks, many characteristics remain the same and contributed to tragic loss of human life and unnecessary expenditure of capital: insufficient knowledge of the disease, its reservoirs, and its transmission; delayed prevention efforts and treatment; poor control of the disease in hospital settings; and inadequate community and international responses. Recognizing the opportunity to learn from the countless lessons of this epidemic, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened a workshop in March 2015 to discuss the challenges to successful outbreak responses at the scientific, clinical, and global health levels. Workshop participants explored the epidemic from multiple perspectives, identified important questions about Ebola that remained unanswered, and sought to apply this understanding to the broad challenges posed by Ebola and other emerging pathogens, to prevent the international community from being taken by surprise once again in the face of these threats. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop.

Book The philosopher   s stone is Triune Unity  and the end of all philosophers

Download or read book The philosopher s stone is Triune Unity and the end of all philosophers written by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky and published by Philaletheians UK. This book was released on 2024-08-17 with total page 110 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Part 1. Mystery is the negation of common sense, just as metaphysics is a kind of poetry. Ten axiomatic propositions of eastern philosophy. Part 2. There are two kinds of seership, spiritual and sensuous. Spiritual seership is pellucid vistas of cosmic splendour; sensuous, hazy glimpses of Truth distorted by matter. Part 3. The exercise of Will-power is the highest form of prayer, followed by an instant response. Eight Vedantic precepts of man’s mystic powers, and their appellations. Part 4. An illusionary “double” or doppelganger can be projected to any location. There are three kinds of “doubles” or astral bodies. Part 5. Feats and wonders by learned thaumaturgists, skilled in occult science. Conjuration, ceremonies, circle-making, and incense-burning are as ridiculous as they are useless. Part 6. The adept-magician can release the astral soul from the cremated remains and thus facilitate the withdrawal of the astral soul of the deceased, which otherwise might remain stupefied for an indefinite period within the ashes. Part 7. The disappearance from sight of a flame, symbol of Divine Light, does not imply its actual extinction. The spirit of the flame is inextinguishable. Part 8. Pure Buddhism possesses all the breadth that can be claimed from a doctrine, at once religious and scientific. Its tolerance excites the jealousy of none. Part 9. Magnetism is the alphabet of magic. The glorified human spirit is far more beauteous than its physical capsule. Part 10. The Todas resemble the statue of the Grecian Zeus, in majesty and beauty of form. Part 11. Shamanism is the heathenism of Mongolia, and one of the oldest religions of India. In is an offshoot of primitive theurgy, a practical blending of the visible with the invisible world. Part 12. The philosopher’s stone is no stone, it is Triune Unity and the end of all philosophers. Man is also a stone, potentially, a living foundation upon which he can build a temple, pure as flaming diamond, fit for his Higher Self to shine through him and become a beneficent power on earth. Part 13. The longevity of Lamas and the Talapoins of Siam is proverbial. Part 14. To deride wonders is easy; to explain them, troublesome; to dissect scientifically, impossible. How the brave warrior’s feet proved less nimble than his tongue. Part 15. Shamanism and its spirit-worship, is the most despised of all surviving religions. Still, many Russians are convinced of the Shamans’ supernatural powers. Part 16. The Kurdish rites and doctrines are purely magical and magian. They unify the mysticism of the Hindu with the practices of the Assyrio-Chaldean magians. Part 17. The plastic power of imagination, when impregnated with the potentiality of good or bad, generates a current which attaches itself to anyone who comes within it. “Evil eye” is the effect of venomous thoughts from the spell a malicious person. Part 18. The subjective end of matter, is pure spirit; the objective end, crystallised spirit. There being but One Truth, man requires but One Church, which is the Temple of God within us, walled-in by dense matter. Part 19. Modern Spiritualism is neither a science, nor a religion, not even a philosophy. To the spiritualists we offer philosophical deduction, instead of unverifiable hypothesis; scientific analysis and demonstration, instead of undiscriminating faith. Part 20. Our work is done. The enemies of Truth have been all counted, and paraded for all to see. Modern science, powerless to satisfy the aspirations of the race, makes the future a void, and bereaves man of hope. Paganism is ancient wisdom replete with Deity. And today, it rules the world in secret. Part 21. If ye love me, keep my commandments. Commentary on John xiv, 15–17. Appendix A. The Fire which devours itself is more mighty than ordinary fire. Appendix B. Biography of Francis Gerry Fairfield.

Book The Future of Public Health

    Book Details:
  • Author : Committee for the Study of the Future of Public Health
  • Publisher : National Academies Press
  • Release : 1988-01-15
  • ISBN : 0309581907
  • Pages : 240 pages

Download or read book The Future of Public Health written by Committee for the Study of the Future of Public Health and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 1988-01-15 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The Nation has lost sight of its public health goals and has allowed the system of public health to fall into 'disarray'," from The Future of Public Health. This startling book contains proposals for ensuring that public health service programs are efficient and effective enough to deal not only with the topics of today, but also with those of tomorrow. In addition, the authors make recommendations for core functions in public health assessment, policy development, and service assurances, and identify the level of government--federal, state, and local--at which these functions would best be handled.

Book Insights to emotion in Art

Download or read book Insights to emotion in Art written by Bhagavan Das and published by Philaletheians UK. This book was released on 2017-12-17 with total page 10 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Book The Power of Plagues

    Book Details:
  • Author : Irwin W. Sherman
  • Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
  • Release : 2020-07-02
  • ISBN : 1683670019
  • Pages : 448 pages

Download or read book The Power of Plagues written by Irwin W. Sherman and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2020-07-02 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Power of Plagues presents a rogues' gallery of epidemic- causing microorganisms placed in the context of world history. Author Irwin W. Sherman introduces the microbes that caused these epidemics and the people who sought (and still seek) to understand how diseases and epidemics are managed. What makes this book especially fascinating are the many threads that Sherman weaves together as he explains how plagues past and present have shaped the outcome of wars and altered the course of medicine, religion, education, feudalism, and science. Cholera gave birth to the field of epidemiology. The bubonic plague epidemic that began in 1346 led to the formation of universities in cities far from the major centers of learning (and hot spots of the Black Death) at that time. And the Anopheles mosquito and malaria aided General George Washington during the American Revolution. Sadly, when microbes have inflicted death and suffering, people have sometimes responded by invoking discrimination, scapegoating, and quarantine, often unfairly, against races or classes of people presumed to be the cause of the epidemic. Pathogens are not the only stars of this book. Many scientists and physicians who toiled to understand, treat, and prevent these plagues are also featured. Sherman tells engaging tales of the development of vaccines, anesthesia, antiseptics, and antibiotics. This arsenal has dramatically reduced the suffering and death caused by infectious diseases, but these plague protectors are imperfect, due to their side effects or attenuation and because microbes almost invariably develop resistance to antimicrobial drugs. The Power of Plagues provides a sobering reminder that plagues are not a thing of the past. Along with the persistence of tuberculosis, malaria, river blindness, and AIDS, emerging and remerging epidemics continue to confound global and national public health efforts. West Nile virus, Lyme disease, and Ebola and Zika viruses are just some of the newest rogues to plague humans. The argument that civilization has been shaped to a significant degree by the power of plagues is compelling, and The Power of Plagues makes the case in an engaging and informative way that will be satisfying to scientists and non-scientists alike.

Book Virus Mania

    Book Details:
  • Author : Torsten Engelbrecht
  • Publisher : Trafford on Demand Pub
  • Release : 2007
  • ISBN : 9781425114671
  • Pages : 322 pages

Download or read book Virus Mania written by Torsten Engelbrecht and published by Trafford on Demand Pub. This book was released on 2007 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This book has been written with the care of a master-craftsman, courageously evaluating the medical establishment, the corporate elites and the powerful government funding institutions. It is the result of expert knowledge and great attention to details. I edit standard medical textbooks, so I esteem the decades of efforts required to research and write a book like this." ---Wolfgang Weuffen, MD, Professor of Microbiology and Infectious Epidemiology "I have been so riveted reading this book that once, while standing on a platform of a major train station, I didn't even notice the Intercity train stop right in front of me and then go on without me. The authors are absolutely right in saying that the virus hunters and the media tend to push unfounded medical theories and sensationalized news based on the seesaw formula of hype and hope. Thereby, the CDC and the RKI snatch research funds worth billions of dollars, while the pharmaceutical industry generates giant profits, among them Tamiflu maker Roche. This book is an important contribution against such dangerous stultifications." --- Sievert Lorenzen, DSc, Professor of Zoology

Book Piety and Plague

    Book Details:
  • Author : Franco Mormando
  • Publisher : Penn State Press
  • Release : 2007-10-01
  • ISBN : 161248008X
  • Pages : 533 pages

Download or read book Piety and Plague written by Franco Mormando and published by Penn State Press. This book was released on 2007-10-01 with total page 533 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Plague was one of the enduring facts of everyday life on the European continent, from earliest antiquity through the first decades of the eighteenth century. It represents one of the most important influences on the development of Europe’s society and culture. In order to understand the changing circumstances of the political, economic, ecclesiastical, artistic, and social history of that continent, it is important to understand epidemic disease and society’s response to it. To date, the largest portion of scholarship about plague has focused on its political, economic, demographic, and medical aspects. This interdisciplinary volume offers greater coverage of the religious and the psychological dimensions of plague and of European society’s response to it through many centuries and over a wide geographical terrain, including Byzantium. This research draws extensively upon a wealth of primary sources, both printed and painted, and includes ample bibliographical reference to the most important secondary sources, providing much new insight into how generations of Europeans responded to this dread disease.

Book Akasha versus Astral Light

Download or read book Akasha versus Astral Light written by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky and published by Philaletheians UK. This book was released on 2019-04-08 with total page 29 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In its highest aspect, Akasha is Divine mind reflected in the waters of Space or Chaos. It is undifferentiated Noumenal and Abstract Space, which will be occupied by Primordial Consciousness. Akasha has several fields: The first is the field of latent consciousness which is coeval with the duration of the First and Second Logos. Another Akashic field is coeval with the emergence of the Third Logos. From the latent potentiality there radiates a lower field of differentiated consciousness, which is Mahat, or the entire collectivity of those Dhyani-Chohans of sentient life of which Fohat is the representative on the objective plane and the Manasaputras on the subjective. 1. Akasha is eternal; Astral Light; periodic and ephemeral. The ideals of Divine Mind become reflected and reversed in the Astral Light, which also reflects the life of our Earth. 2. Akasha is eternal divine consciousness, undifferentiated, and unconditioned. Astral Light is a periodic projection of the One Celestial Unconsciousness to myriads of terrestrial, individualised consciousnesses. 3. Akasha is the germ within the acorn; Astral Light is the acorn. 4. Akasha is the Divine Soul of Thought and Compassion, a perpetually reasoning Divinity. Compassion, being the Spirit of Truth, is the Law of laws. 5. Akasha is the Soul of the World on the spiritual plane; Astral Light, the Body of the World on the psychic plane. 6. Astral Light is the dregs of Akasha polluted by man’s selfish and perverted thoughts and deeds, storehouse of all human and especially psychic iniquities. Astral Light is bi-sexual. The male part is purely spiritual; the female part, tainted with matter. 7. Astral Light is not even the thought substance of the Universe, but a mere recorder of every thought. Astral Light retains the thoughts and deeds of the animal man; Akasha, those of the Spiritual Man.

Book The Great Influenza

    Book Details:
  • Author : John M. Barry
  • Publisher : Penguin
  • Release : 2005-10-04
  • ISBN : 9780143036494
  • Pages : 580 pages

Download or read book The Great Influenza written by John M. Barry and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2005-10-04 with total page 580 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: #1 New York Times bestseller “Barry will teach you almost everything you need to know about one of the deadliest outbreaks in human history.”—Bill Gates "Monumental... an authoritative and disturbing morality tale."—Chicago Tribune The strongest weapon against pandemic is the truth. Read why in the definitive account of the 1918 Flu Epidemic. Magisterial in its breadth of perspective and depth of research, The Great Influenza provides us with a precise and sobering model as we confront the epidemics looming on our own horizon. As Barry concludes, "The final lesson of 1918, a simple one yet one most difficult to execute, is that...those in authority must retain the public's trust. The way to do that is to distort nothing, to put the best face on nothing, to try to manipulate no one. Lincoln said that first, and best. A leader must make whatever horror exists concrete. Only then will people be able to break it apart." At the height of World War I, history’s most lethal influenza virus erupted in an army camp in Kansas, moved east with American troops, then exploded, killing as many as 100 million people worldwide. It killed more people in twenty-four months than AIDS killed in twenty-four years, more in a year than the Black Death killed in a century. But this was not the Middle Ages, and 1918 marked the first collision of science and epidemic disease.

Book The walk without limbs  Searching for indigenous health knowledge in a rural context in South Africa

Download or read book The walk without limbs Searching for indigenous health knowledge in a rural context in South Africa written by Gubela Mji and published by AOSIS. This book was released on 2019-12-12 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a country as diverse as South Africa, sickness and health often mean different things to different people – so much so that the different health definitions and health belief models in the country seem to have a profound influence on the health-seeking behaviour of the people who are part of our vibrant, multicultural society. This book is concerned with the integration of indigenous health knowledge (IHK) into the current Western--orientated Primary Health Care (PHC) model. The first section of the book highlights the challenges facing the training of health professionals using a curriculum that is not drawing its knowledge base from the indigenous context and the people of that context. Such professionals will later recognise that they are walking without limbs in matters pertaining to health. The area that was chosen for conducting the research was KwaBomvana in Xhora (Elliotdale), Eastern Cape province, South Africa. The people who reside there are called AmaBomvana. The area where the Bomvana peoples reside is served by Madwaleni Hospital and eight surrounding clinics. Qualitative ethnographic, feminist methods of data collection supported the research done for Section 1 of the book. Section 2 comprises the translation and implementation of PhD study outcomes and had contributions from various researchers. In the critical research findings of the PhD study, older Xhosa women identify the inclusion of social determinants of health as vital to the health problems they managed within their homes. For them, each disease is linked to a social determinant of health, and the management of health problems includes the management of social determinants of health. For them, it is about the health of the home and not just about the management of disease. They believe that healthy homes make healthy villages, and that the prevention of the development of disease is related to the strengthening of the home. Health and illness should be seen within both physical and spiritual contexts; without health, there can be no progress in the home. When defining health, the older Xhosa women add three critical components to the WHO health definition, namely, food security, healthy children and families, and peace and security in their villages. Prof. Mji further proposes that these three elements should be included in the next revision of the WHO health definition because they are not only important for the Bomvana people where the research was conducted, but also for the rest of humanity. In light of the promise of National Health Insurance and the revitalisation of PHC, this book proposes that these two major national health policies should take cognisance of the IHK utilised by the older Xhosa women. In addtion to what this research implies, these policies should also take note of all IHK from the indigenous peoples of South Africa, Africa and the rest of the world, and that there should be a clear plan as to how the knowledge can be supported within a health care systems approach.

Book Psychiatry of Pandemics

    Book Details:
  • Author : Damir Huremović
  • Publisher : Springer
  • Release : 2019-05-15
  • ISBN : 3030153460
  • Pages : 185 pages

Download or read book Psychiatry of Pandemics written by Damir Huremović and published by Springer. This book was released on 2019-05-15 with total page 185 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book focuses on how to formulate a mental health response with respect to the unique elements of pandemic outbreaks. Unlike other disaster psychiatry books that isolate aspects of an emergency, this book unifies the clinical aspects of disaster and psychosomatic psychiatry with infectious disease responses at the various levels, making it an excellent resource for tackling each stage of a crisis quickly and thoroughly. The book begins by contextualizing the issues with a historical and infectious disease overview of pandemics ranging from the Spanish flu of 1918, the HIV epidemic, Ebola, Zika, and many other outbreaks. The text acknowledges the new infectious disease challenges presented by climate changes and considers how to implement systems to prepare for these issues from an infection and social psyche perspective. The text then delves into the mental health aspects of these crises, including community and cultural responses, emotional epidemiology, and mental health concerns in the aftermath of a disaster. Finally, the text considers medical responses to situation-specific trauma, including quarantine and isolation-associated trauma, the mental health aspects of immunization and vaccination, survivor mental health, and support for healthcare personnel, thereby providing guidance for some of the most alarming trends facing the medical community. Written by experts in the field, Psychiatry of Pandemics is an excellent resource for infectious disease specialists, psychiatrists, psychologists, immunologists, hospitalists, public health officials, nurses, and medical professionals who may work patients in an infectious disease outbreak.

Book Promoting Health

    Book Details:
  • Author : Institute of Medicine
  • Publisher : National Academies Press
  • Release : 2000-02-01
  • ISBN : 0309132916
  • Pages : 507 pages

Download or read book Promoting Health written by Institute of Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2000-02-01 with total page 507 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At the dawn of the twenty-first century, Americans enjoyed better overall health than at any other time in the nation's history. Rapid advancements in medical technologies, breakthroughs in understanding the genetic underpinnings of health and ill health, improvements in the effectiveness and variety of pharmaceuticals, and other developments in biomedical research have helped develop cures for many illnesses and improve the lives of those with chronic diseases. By itself, however, biomedical research cannot address the most significant challenges to improving public health. Approximately half of all causes of mortality in the United States are linked to social and behavioral factors such as smoking, diet, alcohol use, sedentary lifestyle, and accidents. Yet less than five percent of the money spent annually on U.S. health care is devoted to reducing the risks of these preventable conditions. Behavioral and social interventions offer great promise, but as yet their potential has been relatively poorly tapped. Promoting Health identifies those promising areas of social science and behavioral research that may address public health needs. It includes 12 papersâ€"commissioned from some of the nation's leading expertsâ€"that review these issues in detail, and serves to assess whether the knowledge base of social and behavioral interventions has been useful, or could be useful, in the development of broader public health interventions.