Perceptions Regarding Cough and TB in the Bassac Area, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

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Perceptions Regarding Cough and TB in the
Bassac Area, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Anne Y.
Guillou, Francesca Stuer, Michael
E. Kimerling, Gina Dallabetta IMPACT
Cambodia/Family Health International Gorgas
Memorial Institute/University of Alabama at
Birmingham IMPACT/Family Health International,
Arlington, Virginia, USA
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Hot news about TB
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Modern medicines can cure TB. But people will be
wary of using such medicines unless they fit with
cultural beliefs and perceptions. An FHI/Impact
TB study among a Phnom Penh squatter community
showed that
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In Cambodia, TB is...
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...a hot disease caused by an imbalance of fluids
in the body ...it should be treated with cold
medicines ...modern TB medicines are seen as
strong and hot therefore they are believed to be
inappropriate for TB
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In Cambodia, TB is...
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...identified by non-physicians through the type
and sound of a persons cough ...dry coughs
are bad, wet coughs arent thought to be
dangerous ...Cambodians identify many types of
dry cough, including TB cough
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New mothers are often believed to be suffering
from...
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...toah (conflict) a condition which can
manifest as a uterus cough ...uteruscough
is another hot condition, believed to be
untreatable with modern medicines ...because of
this, many women who think they have uterus
coughs wait months before going to hospital
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TB is believed to come from...
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...working too hard and breaking your strength
...same sex inheritance it is believed by many
that husbands and wives cannot infect each
other ...catching someone elses bad luck or
tempting fate, by using the dangerous word TB
too often
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TB treatment...
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...can be thwarted by evil spirits ...is often
avoided because of the cost, or left unfinished
because symptoms have disappeared ...is often
avoided because people do not want to accept that
they have TB. Many still see it as an inevitably
fatal disease
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Summary TB prevention and care work in Cambodia
needs to take account of peoples beliefs and
perceptions, perhaps by... Giving Paracetamol,
seen as a cold medicine, alongside usual
treatment ...Emphasising that TB need not kill,
if the right help is obtained quickly
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The research aimed to 1. Achieve a better
understanding of perceptions and
treatment-seeking behaviors related to long-term
coughs and TB among squatters in Bassac 2. Help
in developing appropriate training and IEC
materials for community TB work For further
details, email impact_at_fhi.org.kh Images from the
Cambodian National Center for Health Promotion
(NCHP) and the Cambodian Health Promotion
Primary Health Care Project (CHPPHCP)