India RPCV Helen Sheehan says traditional medicine survives in South Asia
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Traditional medicine survives in South Asia
BY KRISNA DUONG-LY
“Traditional medicine in South Asia has survived all kinds of Western medicine and medical plans that did not include traditional medicine,” Helen Sheehan said during her talk entitled “Contemporary Issues in South Asian Health and Medicine.”
Sheehan is a South Asian studies lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania. She spoke to a small audience of 20 people in Kirby Lecture Hall on Monday at 4:30 p.m., sharing her views on and experiences with the introduction of Western medicine in South Asia.
The lecture began with slides of some of Sheehan’s travels in India since the 1960s. During that decade, there was much excitement about the possibilities for development in areas like India and Pakistan.
This interest began initiatives for preventive health care programs in the area. During this time, Sheehan worked with a group that organized nutrition classes for children as well as pregnant and nursing mothers in villages.
Sheehan stated that she and others believe that this was a model system that improved both preventative and current health of the Indian people. The government ran most hospitals and clinics; all Indian people had access to the same doctors, regardless of economic class.
This model system, however, did not remain intact as foreign interests encouraged privatization of hospitals and clinics. Private institutions led highly qualified health care professionals away from state health care facilities, leaving poorer Indians with a lower quality of health care.
Furthermore, India began to experience new waves of infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, malaria and AIDS at this time. Sheehan noted that while she was working in India, the pesticide dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DTT) was used to deter the mosquitoes. “Little did we know at the time that DTT was very bad for you,” Sheehan said. Because the use of DTT has been halted, however, malaria has become worse during the past few decades.
Sheehan emphasized the effect of poverty on the nutrition of the South Asian people. She listed examples of cities that she traveled through in which garbage was not even picked up by the municipal departments. Both the water systems and the environment became polluted during the past couple of decades as industries entered the area, adversely affecting the nutrition of Indian people and endangering their health.
Jessica Lee ’03, who studied abroad in China, agreed with Sheehan on this issue. “Poverty is the thing that needs to be solved,” she said. “Globalization and privatization were not necessarily the solutions to the nation’s problems.”
“The solution that [Sheehan] suggested was rather large scale and probably not very practical — take care of poverty — but it also makes a good point about how deeply ingrained the health problems are,” Jyoti Gupta ’05 said.
Sheehan’s lecture also focused on a wide array of topics concerning traditional medicine. “Western medicine is very hot and fast,” she said. “If you have a fever, it’ll cure the symptoms, but what about the root cause of that fever? The argument of traditional medicine is that it cures more slowly and without such drastic action on the body.”
She pointed out that China is one Asian country that has been successful in allowing Western medicine and traditional medicine to coexist.
Finally, Sheehan addressed the role of gender in the Indian family. Sons are often fed more and given better health care than daughters. Once abortion became available, pregnant women often aborted female fetuses. “Many girls do not reach the age of five,” Sheehan said.
“I felt that it was a good expository lecture,” Gupta said. “[She] gave what I felt [was] an engaging overview of the health issues in South Asia. She mostly talked about India, though I imagine much of the information applies to surrounding countries as well.”
Organizer Renuka Nayak ’04 shared some similar sentiments. “I liked it in the sense that she presented a lot of topics,” she said.
Upon finishing her undergraduate studies, Sheehan volunteered in the Peace Corps for two years. During this time, she worked in the Applied Nutrition Program in Andhra Pradesh, India.
She received a Ph.D. in sociology from Penn and now teaches courses dealing with health care in South Asia. Sheehan also researches medical systems in South Asia and has worked and studied in India and Pakistan.
Sheehan was brought to campus when Sonal Bhatia ’02, the Asian outreach coordinator at Penn, recommended to Nayak that Sheehan speak at Swarthmore. The talk was organized by Deshi and sponsored by the Forum for Free Speech and the Pre-Medical Office. Students interested in taking classes in South Asian Health and Medicine at Penn were especially encouraged to attend.
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This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; Special Interests - Medicine; What RPCVs are doing; COS - India
