Impact of religious/spiritual perception of disease causation and cure on biomedicine: The Nigerian experience

Joint Event on 2^nd International Conference on Medical and Health Science & 8^th Annual Congress and Medicare Expo on Primary Healthcare

July 26-27, 2019 Melbourne, Australia

Isiremen and Omoso Celestina

Ambrose Alli University, Nigeria

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Health Edu Res Dev

Abstract :

Therapeutic techniques of the Nigerian religious/spiritual healer differ from that of the doctor trained in western biomedicine. This influenced peopleâ??s understanding of disease causation and cure and also impact on public health care system adversely. The study investigated the impact of religious/spirituality on health care choice in Nigeria. The work adopted descriptive survey in its methodology and used the stratified random sampling to select a sample group of 3,600 spread across 12 states of the country. Data were collected by the aid of structured questionnaire and in-depth interview and analyzed using simple percentage and frequency. Major findings included the following: The peopleâ??s perception of disease causation and cure in relation to malevolent spirits and misfortunes and increased rate morbidity and mortality. The study recommended a thorough examination of the values of religious/spiritual healthcare techniques in relation to biomedicine. It concluded that socio-economic problems must be addressed and that effort must be made towards the social construct of the health care reasoning of the people which could be enhanced by integrating spirituality into biomedicine.

Biography :

E-mail: cesiramen@yahoo.com