Traditional Health Care in the Near East: Indigenous Health Practices and Practitioners in Egypt, Afghanistan, Jordan, Syria, Tunisia, Morocco, and Yemen (A Report prepared for the U.S. Agency for International Development, Contract No. AID/NE-C-1395)

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Original colour wraps 20 x 27cm. v, 147pp. Covers very good, worn to edges. Interiors near fine, although the binding is fragile with some hinges reinforced with archival tape. Author's presentation inscription inside front wrap initialled and dated BP Feb 1979, calls for exchange of papers. Worldcat identifies only 7 locations (AUC, Tel Aviv University, Stony Brook University, Columbia University, SUNY, Arksansas University, UCLA x3). Jisc does not record it. Barbara Linne Kroll Pillsbury (1942-2012) was a cultural and medical anthropologist. She gained her PhD on the Muslim Chinese at Columbia. She learnt Arabic whilst working at the American University in Cairo during 1968-69. USAID's Near East Bureau initiated this study to contribute to the design of low-cost health care programmes compatible with local values and practices. It required compiling an inventory of indigenous systems, identifying gaps, and providing a basis for gathering further information. Pillsbury found local practitioners remain important, though Government attitudes varied from one extreme (eg Afghanistan trained midwives) to the other (Tunisia banned all traditional practitioners), with variations in between, eg, Egypt barred the zar cult (exorcisms), while Morocco banned bleeding. She found some therapies effective, others neutral or dangerous. Most traditional practitioners are open to international medicine, and perceptions of the poor to this ranged from fear (Afghanistan) to enthusiasm (Tunisia). Belief in classical Arab medical theory, jinns, possession by demons, the evil eye, and God's will remained strong. Women lead on health and nutrition, and interact comfortably with male practitioners. The country chapters go into much more detail. Yemen for example describes the manners, customs, diets, and religious beliefs of people from 5 ecological regions, oral communication of knowledge, and prevalence of pre-Islamic beliefs. Traditionalists include Hakim (literate physicians), Mozayyin (barbers), traditional midwives, Quaranic specialists, and herbalists. N° de ref. del artículo 3432

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