Suchergebnisse

"This book focuses on health, healing and healthcare in Nepal. It presents an intriguing picture: the interplay between the natural processes that cause ill-health or diseases and the socio-cultural processes through which people try to understand and cope with them. The work places medical tradition, health politics, gender and health, and pharmaceutical business within the wider politico-economic milieu of Nepal. It also describes the establishment of medical anthropology as an academic discipline, and its relevance for understanding the country's specific health problems, health care traditions and health policies. Combining scientific research with practical experiences, the book will serve as a unique resource, especially for health workers, policymakers, and teachers and students in medical schools, those in public health, social medicine, healthcare, governance and political studies, sociology and social anthropology, and Nepal and South Asian studies. "--Provided by publisher.

Qualitative research is crucial in exploring the complexities of human experiences, behaviors, perceptions, and social phenomena. It is particularly effective in generating hypotheses, exploring new research topics, and capturing the subjective aspects of human interaction and experience. It emphasizes social, economic, and political context, cultural nuances, and participants' voices for comprehensive and holistic understanding. Determining an appropriate sampling method and adequacy of sample size remains a challenging aspect of qualitative research methodology. This paper highlights the key issues related to sampling approaches, sample size, and trustworthiness in qualitative research.

Loss of a loved one is deeply emotional. This obituary paper is about Professor Gregory G. Maskarinec (May 16, 1951-June 16, 2022), a true friend, an academic intellectual and an honest researcher of medical anthropology. Working with him and sharing ideas with open mind was a great opportunity for me and many scholars in Nepal. Based on collaborative work, interaction and the interview with Professor Gregory, in his remembrance, I have highlighted his academic background and work experiences, friendship and collaborative work, my privilege and opportunities to write about him for his professorship and some of the dreams that could not happen due to his sudden demise. My deepest sympathies are with his family.

Caste has been in existence for centuries in South Asia, though its forms and contents vary across the region. Caste is a mode of power, a weapon of action and one of the criteria of making people's collective identity within groups. I argue, in this paper, that caste is a product of complex histories and exists today in multiple forms. There has been a major change from treating caste as a rigid ritual stratum to caste as "identity to negotiate power and resources." It operates as a symbol of collective identity and a basis for collective bargaining of limited resources and representation in various organizations and administrative institutions. The caste system eroded at the ritual level, but emerged at the political and economic levels in India and Nepal.

Most epidemiological studies focus on the direct causes of diseases while wider, social causal factors are ignored. This paper briefly highlights the history of major epidemics and the role of Anthropocene and Capitalocene for the emergence and reemergence of pandemics like COVID-19. Books, journal articles, and statistics offer information that can explain the phenomena. A historical inquiry can inform us about the fundamental causes of pandemics. Human security and ecology are intertwined, and the global effect of pandemics responded to at the national level is inadequate. The lessons from the past and present help us devise effective ethically and socially appropriate strategies to mitigate the threats. If the present crisis is not taken seriously at the global level, the world has to face more difficult challenges in years to come.

Professor David Sanders, a well-renowned academic, consummate activist and commentator, a great public intellectual passed away on 30th August 2019 at the age of 74 years. He was a champion of economic and social justice and one of the pioneers of the importance of primary health care who emphasized the importance of involving communities, being accountable to communities and role of community health workers in promoting health and preventing disease. David shaped research and teaching in public health for almost five decades. This paper highlights David's contribution in public health teaching, research and advocacy.
Keywords: Public intellectual, People's Health Movement, Struggle for Health, David Sanders

No abstract available.Dhaulagiri Journal of Sociology and Anthropology Vol.11, 2017; 184-191

The issue of surrogate motherhood has started public debates in Nepal. With surrogacy a child becomes the object of a legal transaction, while the surrogate mother is used, in effect as an incubator, and the hospital declares commissioned parents' name of a newborn child. The poor women in low-income countries have been used as means to compensate for the reproductive deficiencies of high-income infertile parents. Do purchasing cheaper services, receiving surrogates easier, and having the possibility of gender selection, all in the poor countries, support 'surrogacy tourism' or is it a kind of exploitative relationship? Until today, Nepal's laws do not have any specific provision to deal with surrogacy and, therefore, it is urgent to address the challenges with commercial surrogacy and establish a precise legal policy.

This paper highlights the informal inner circle network approach to maintaining relationships and reciprocating favors within a system that significantly affect the performance of incumbents in formal bureaucratic organizations. While this is a general sociological problem in any society, this article deals with how afno manchhe behavior is manifested in Nepal. Without afno manchhe relations, one risks marginalization, disappointments and failures in one's struggle to realize important goals in life. In such a situation, the malfunctioning of administration and dissatisfaction arise at every level. There is thus a significant relationship between one's position in afno manchhe networks and inclusion-exclusion processes. This of course has consequences for the widespread practice of corruption in Nepal.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/dsaj.v8i0.10722Dhaulagiri Journal of Sociology and Anthropology Vol. 8, 2014; 55-86

Caste as a system of social stratification was an encompassing system in the past. There was reciprocal system of exchange goods and services. With time, occupation and mode of generation of livelihood of various caste groups changed, and the traditional form of jajmani system fizzled out. This paper provides an account of changing perspectives of caste relations in social science writing and political discourse. The discourse of caste has been shifted from ritual hierarchy and social discrimination to an instrument to mobilize people for economic and political gain. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/dsaj.v7i0.10437 Dhaulagiri Journal of Sociology and Anthropology Vol. 7, 2013; 51-86

Disability is a complex multidimensional condition and poses a number of challenges for measurement. Operational measures of disability vary according to the purpose and application of the data and the aspects of disability examined. Various sources can be used to examine the prevalence of disability, but they are not directly comparable because they use different approaches to estimating and measuring disability. The definitional issues underlie some of the difficulties in statistical analysis, and to understand the conceptual questions shaping the efforts of those working in the various fields relating to disability. Disability data of Nepal is no exception, and researchers and organizations that have been working for people with disabilities have questioned the reliability of such data.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/dsaj.v6i0.8476 Dhaulagiri Journal of Sociology and Anthropology Vol. 6, 2012 1-24

One of the core concerns of medical anthropology is to explore how people in different cultures and social groups explain the causes of ill health, the type of treatment they believe in, and to whom they turn if they do become ill. This article focuses on the understanding of illness causation by the Newars in Kirtipur and their concern about biological and socio-cultural aspects of healthy behavior, and particularly with the ways in which they have been coping in everyday life. The basic method of data collection for this study was formal and informal discussions with the elderly Newar males and females, followed by discussions with youths to explore the variations in their perceptions. The findings show that the understanding of illness etiology is multi-causal. The individual, natural, social, and supernatural causes are not mutually exclusive but are usually linked together in a particular case. In any specific case of illness, moreover, people's explanatory model varies in how they explain its etiology.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/dsaj.v5i0.6358 Dhaulagiri Journal of Sociology and Anthropology Vol. 5, 2011: 101-120

The objective of this paper is to assess opportunities for Wintergreen, a natural product's intervention on poverty reduction, strengthening local governance, and improving resource management. DOI: 10.3126/opsa.v11i0.3032 Occasional Papers in Sociology and Anthropology Vol.11 2009 84-103

About 35 percent of the total demand for medicines in Nepal is covered by Nepali Pharmaceutical companies, and such companies are moving ahead for producing different kinds of medicines. The Government of Nepal, Department of Drug Administration (DDA) has formulated different regulations and guidelines to ensure ethical practices in the medical sector of Nepal. Ethical Promotion of Medicine-2007 was developed and released to encourage the improvement of health care through the rational use of medicine and discourage unethical practices. It is distressing that the guidelines have not been implemented properly due to the conflict of interests among concerned stakeholders. The cost of medicine has been very expensive and poor people have always suffered. Key Words: Bonus; Ethical Guideline; Unethical Practices; Pharmaceutical Regulation; Conflict of Interest DOI: 10.3126/dsaj.v3i0.2783 Dhaulagiri Journal of Sociology and Anthropology Vol.3 2009 123-142

Various studies show that more than 600,000 women in Nepal are suffering from prolapsed uterus and that 200,000 of those needed immediate surgery. Many of the women with prolapse could recall the exact moment they first felt the prolapse and found difficulty to share the problems due to fear of stigma. Stories ranged from seven days immediately after the first delivery to after the birth of the fifth or sixth child; during cooking rice to sneezing and long coughing; fetching water in a big bucket to working in the field. If detected at an early stage, uterine prolapse (UP) can be controlled by pelvic exercises. For severe cases, the remedy is to insert a ring pessary to stop it from descending which has to be changed every four months. In extreme cases, uterine tissue protrudes from the vagina causing extreme discomfort. The only remedy is hysterectomy in which the uterus is surgically removed. The operation costs are about NRs 20,000. The Government of Nepal and other donor organizations have allocated funds to provide services to about 10,000 to 12,000 women suffering from uterine prolapse as humanitarian support each year and services are likely to be expanded in future. Women suffering from UP have not been able to get benefit from such assistance due to deep rooted socio-cultural perceptions and practices. The number of suffering women, on the other hand, would not decrease from existing curative management policy without hammering the root causes of UP. Moreover, a clear vision and strategy is needed to shift from humanitarian aid to a more sustainable public health intervention.Keywords: Camp Approach; Humanitarian Aid; Socio-cultural Practices; Sustainable Policy; Uterine Prolapse DOI: 10.3126/dsaj.v4i0.4511 Dhaulagiri Journal of Sociology and Anthropology Vol.4 2010 pp.21-40