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Current figures (2018) show that the under-five mortality rate in Sierra Leone is the fifth highest in the world. Its health outcomes for women are also rather low. Spanning work over three decades, Right to Health: Women, Children and Culture describes strategies for empowering women to improve access to healthcare in a culture dominated by fixed theories on the causation of disease, theories typically connected to the Earth, people, acts of God, or the displeasure of ancestors.
Acknowledging the challenges of a system in which centrally organized, modern medical and health services reach less than 40% per cent of the population, leaving the rest to depend on traditional healers and herbalists, Dr Williams develops a training programme for traditional birth attendants, who look after about 70% of pregnant women, incorporating them as effective constituents of the healthcare ecosystem.
An obstetrician and gynaecologist qualified in public health, the author’s unique skill set brings considerable insight into the effects of culture and its practice on the health outcomes of the vulnerable group comprising mothers, young children, and adolescent girls in particular.
Examining established conventional methods of treating and managing ill health, the author takes us on a journey of discovery, through learning about traditional women’s societies, to integrating these societies into primary healthcare. She shares her perceptions of cultural practices, allowing us to come to our own conclusions on which are good, harmful, or essentially harmless.
