Global
Health Physician Anthropologist
Does
such a person exist? Or are there many people do the work done by a Global
Health Physician Anthropologist without calling themselves as such?
(participating in an educational seminar for Peer to Peer Educators at MoPoTsyo, Phnom Penh in Cambodia)
For
example, MOPOTSYO Peer to Peer Education Programme in Phnom Penh, Cambodia run
by the indefatigable Maurits Van Pelt is an example of Global Health Medical
Anthropology. Each and every one of the Peer-to-Peer educators has to have a
good understanding of the culture from which their patients come from, since
they are the products of the same culture. Whilst they may not hold degrees in
Health Education, the results show that their work is Health Education
I
am a Physician Anthropologist and my arena is Global Health. I find it
difficult to explain to people what is that I do. I realize that people set the
limits or constraints on their “job” and if you are not independent, define
“job” as something that pays.
I
have done only one sort of “work” in my life, that of a Physician. I have been
a Physician in training at Universities in Australia; have worked in USA,
Jamaica, Cuba and have done medically focused visits to Namibia, Malaysia,
Myanmar, Indonesia, Cambodia, Panama, to name a few countries.
(at Sule Shangri-La Hotel in Yangon, Myanmar . 2019)
I
will give you an example of my “job” or my “work” (I do not consider what I do
as Job or Work, I feel I am grateful to be of help and being put in situations
where I tend to learn a lot)
I
arrived at Miami International Airport this morning at 11 am. There was a text
message from my sister: Someone wants to speak to you about Immunotherapy for
Cancer as his or her father was undergoing Immunotherapy for Cancer. They live
in another country.
Last night at 8 pm, I had left the small airport at Leticia in the Colombian Amazon. I spent the night at the airport at Bogota, at the El Dorado Lounge as well as the LaTam VIP lounge . No shortage of food but certainly a shortage of SLEEP.
As soon as I arrived in Miami, had a shower and shave and prepared my self for the task of counselling an educated family from a different cultural background (I had worked in their country). Strangely enough I did not feel tired at all.
(I am a great believer in the transaction of symbols. While I normally do not wear my Cuban guayabera that I wear while giving lectures in Havana, today I wore the same guayabera while preparing myself to counsel. I did not wish to appear too casual)(this photo was taken in Havana on another visit)
Yesterday
afternoon, while I was having a Tinto at a favourite café in Leticia in the
Colombian Amazon, the owner told me of her chronic sinusitis/rhinitis of her
husband who has been advised to have surgery in Bogota.
(view of the local library and museum from where I am sitting at the cafe antioqueno)
I
had a bottle of saline solution in my medical bag; I gave it to him, and taught
him the technique of rinsing of the nostrils as well as Pranayama. The couple
was from Antioquia and had been living in the Amazon region for many years and
he was a little resistant to the idea of Pranayama for Chronic Sinusitis, but
said he will try.
Then
I went on to witness the millions of birds returning from the forest, creating
a deadening but well coordinated choreography in the skies.
Earlier
in the day, for lunch, at Govinda’s, I enjoyed a vegetarian lunch (Colombians
are carnivores!) with a Cuban friend of mine. She had come to Colombia many
years ago, got married and now works as a Music teacher in Leticia, Colombia.
We usually talk about Cuba and on this occasion she mentioned that she had been
diagnosed as a Pre-Diabetic and just by switching to fish and vegetables from
meat and chicken she had been able to reduce 12 kg. I recommended that while
she is in Cuba next month, to make an appointment at the Centro Atencion de
Diabetes: to talk to an Endocrinologist, a psychologist and a Health educator
as well as get her feet and eyes checked.
These are the rights of any Cubans born in Cuba, despite living abroad.
The
conditions of medical care in Colombia, under a system of Public and Private
care, is not at all public health oriented but treatment oriented and money
oriented as in many developing countries.
The
main purpose of my visit to the Amazon region was to increase my contact and
their confidence in me of a small group of Indians. A young woman and her
family met me in Leticia and we shared mouthwatering Arepa con Queso along with
some fresh juice (Guanabana, mora among others).
I
spent a very long time discussing the physical, mental and emotional as well as
the spiritual health (as it affects the physical health). The tribe is free of
industrial diseases (diabetes, hypertension etc.) but recently has had a spate
of youth suicides: unable to integrate into the greater society away from their
villages, seeing the destruction of the habitat physically and emotionally, the
incursion into their intact spiritual life by outsiders, were all given as the
cause for the rise in violence and suicide. While the big narco-traffickers are
long gone, there are still small time traffickers along the fluid borders
between Brasil, Colombia and Peru.
(this young lady wishes to become a Peer to Peer Spiritual Educator for her tribe along the Amazon River)
I
am in the process of forming an NGO to help the indigenous peoples deal with
the onslaught of these metabolic illnesses. My model certainly would be
MoPoTsyo of Maurits Van Pelt in Phnom Penh in Cambodia.
More
information on that later, and your participation would be welcome
