Ethnomedical Beliefs, Health Education, and Malaria Eradication in Ethiopia

Abstract

It has been widely recognized that worldwide efforts to eradicate malaria have generally failed because they were largely based on biotechnological interventions while neglecting the human factor. WHO's Primary Health Care orientation emphasized the importance of situating disease eradication programs within the context of the medical beliefs, values, and needs of the target community. This study presents the results of a survey conducted in a rural Southern Ethiopian community on malaria-related beliefs and practices. The findings show that ethnomedical beliefs prevailed in the causational conceptualization of the disease. The majority of the respondents failed to acknowledge the Anopheline mosquitoes as a potential source of ill-health. This lack of vector awareness is discussed in relation to the need for community health education programs. Various organizational and infrastructural innovations introduced by the 1974 Ethiopian Socialist Revolution could be successfully utilized to disseminate basic medical information concerning the malaria cycle and to raise community participation in eradication programs.