Unmasking the Practices of Nurses and Intercultural Health in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Useful Way to Improve Health Care?

Razak M. Gyasi

doi:10.1177/2515690X18791124

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Unmasking the Practices of Nurses and Intercultural Health in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Useful Way to Improve Health Care?

Journal article

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Peer reviewed

Unmasking the Practices of Nurses and Intercultural Health in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Useful Way to Improve Health Care?

Razak M. Gyasi

Journal of evidence-based integrative medicine, Vol.23, pp.1-5

01/2018

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/2515690X18791124

PMCID: PMC6090495

PMID: 30101602

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Abstract

complementary health therapies

intercultural health

medical integration

nurses’ knowledge

sub-Saharan Africa

In 2001 and 2013, the World Health Organization (WHO) published the WHO Traditional Medicine Strategy 2002-2005 and 2014-2023, respectively, to address policy, ethics, quality, and integration of complementary health therapies (CHT). Despite the adoption of these strategic frameworks, sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries largely run dualistic and inclusive health care system. A recent article published in Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice analyzed the role of practicing nurses in CHT integration and intercultural health in an SSA country setting. Drawing on the Complementary and Alternative Medicine Health Belief Questionnaire, the study specifically examined nurses’ knowledge, practices, and attitudes toward CHT. The study revealed that nurses had low knowledge about CHT, which reflected in their ineptitude to engage in professional practices of CHT. In spite of the knowledge deficit, nurses generally held favorable attitudes toward CHT and the majority supported the need for “safe” and evidence-based integrative model. Efforts to improve CHT-related knowledge of nurses may enhance medical integration in SSA. This commentary proposes novel political will and investment in CHT education and research as well as an inclusion of CHT modules in the nurses’ training programs; viabilities to achieve intercultural health and improved care in SSA.

Details

Title: Unmasking the Practices of Nurses and Intercultural Health in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Useful Way to Improve Health Care?
Creators: Razak M. Gyasi - Lingnan University
Publication Details: Journal of evidence-based integrative medicine, Vol.23, pp.1-5
Publisher: Sage
Identifiers: 991013036325302368
Copyright: (C) The Author(s) 2018. Creative Commons Non Commercial CC BY-NC: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
Academic Unit: National Centre for Naturopathic Medicine
Language: English
Resource Type: Journal article

Unmasking the Practices of Nurses and Intercultural Health in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Useful Way to Improve Health Care?

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