Practical Strategies for Providing Culturally Sensitive, Ethical Care in Developing Nations

Abstract

Providing health care in developing nations results in cultural and ethical challenges for health care professionals. The authors’ intent is to raise readers’ awareness of how to maintain an ethical and culturally sensitive approach to practice in developing nations. Four practical approaches to ethical decision-making, developed from the literature and praxis, in conjunction with traditional moral theory and guidelines from professional and international organizations are discussed. Ethical multiculturalism, a view that combines universalism and multiculturalism undergirds culturally appropriate and ethically responsive decisions.