IBAN: IT36M0708677020000000008016 - BIC/SWIFT:
ICRAITRRU60 - VALERIO DI STEFANO or
Health care as a cause of poor health—
and what to do about it
18-7
An example from the Philippines:
In August, 1981. the authors and 4 village health workers from Central America visited the
Philippines to exchange ideas with health workers there. On the edge of the city of Tacloban,
we watched workers from the Makapawa Health Program and local mothers prepare an
herbal cough syrup from ginger, tamarind leaves, bitter orange, and brown sugar. There was
something exciting (almost magical-but not secret) about this process. Everyone took part.
Men and children gathered dried palm fronds for the fire. Women stirred the boiling pot.
Suddenly, as predicted, the dark brew changed into a fluffy white powder, double in volume.
Finally, the bitter orange juice was added—after cooling, in order to protect the vitamin C.
This cough syrup—based on traditional herbal remedies—is now widely used in the area
as a ‘cure-all’ for colds, coughs, stomach distress, and many minor problems. It is a useful,
low-cost home remedy that prevents people from wasting so much money on commercial
medicines. The health workers have also taught local families to prepare an herbal ‘ABC
Drink’ (rehydration drink) for children with diarrhea. At the same time, they have helped
people to learn about the misleading advertising of drug companies. As a result, families
now spend less on doctors and costly medicines, and fewer children die.
Only when we sat down to talk with those present did we realize the impact on health of
these inexpensive home remedies. The families told us the main problems affecting their
health were diarrhea, poor nutrition, and low wages. But the health workers reported
that far fewer children in the area are underweight today than when the program started 2
years ago. When we asked why, the health workers said it might be the nutrition education
for mothers during the ‘under-six’ clinics. But the mothers said they had heard it all before—
that the main reason for their children’s hunger had been lack of money. Yet today’s wages
are as low as ever. So why has health improved?
We asked the mothers how much their families are now spending on health care-herbal
remedies, modern medicines, travel to doctors, etc. The average turned out to be from
10% to 12% of their year’s earnings. (This seemed remarkably low in comparison to Africa
and Latin America, where poor families we have asked often figure they spend from 30%
to 50% of their year’s earnings on health care.) Then one mother said, “We don’t spend
nearly as much now as we used to.” So we asked
everyone what they used to spend on health care before
the program was begun. The average worked out to be
between 40% and 60% of people’s earnings! The hungry
children were always getting sick. So their families would
spend money on a witch doctor, then on tonics and cough
syrups, and finally on expensive trips to city doctors and
hospitals. And sometimes on a funeral. Often they had
gone into debt and fallen prey to ‘loan sharks’. If their
children recovered, they had no money left to feed them
well, so the children soon fell ill again. Costly health
care had become a main cause of poor health!
But today, thanks to the homemade herbal medicines
and community organization to fight the ‘loan sharks’,
the poor people’s economy has improved. Spending less
on health care, they can spend more on food for their
children. The vicious cycle (of health care causing poor
health) has been broken.
Vicious cycle of
health care
causing poor health
Static
Wikipedia 2008 (no
images)
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