Health and healing in Africa have increasingly become subject to monetization and commodification, in short, the market. Based on fieldwork in nine countries, this volume offers different... Show moreHealth and healing in Africa have increasingly become subject to monetization and commodification, in short, the market. Based on fieldwork in nine countries, this volume offers different perspectives on these emerging markets and the way medical staff, patients, households and institutions navigate them in their quest for well-being. Contributions: Introduction: Economic ethnographies of the marketization of health and healing in Africa (Rijk van Dijk and Marleen Dekker); Milking the sick: medical pluralism and the commoditization of healthcare in contemporary Nigeria (Akinyinka Akinyoade and Bukola Adeyemi Oyeniyi); Organizing monies: the reality and creativity of nursing on a hospital ward in Ghana (Christine Böhmig); Market forces threatening school feeding: the case for school farming in Nakuru town, Kenya (Dick Foeken et al.); Dashed hopes and missed opportunities: malaria control policies in Kenya (1896-2009) (Kenneth Ombongi and Marcel Rutten); The market for healing and the elasticity of belief: medical pluralism in Mpumalanga, South Africa (Robert Thornton); Medical knowledge and healing practices among the Kapsiki/Higi of northern Cameroon and northeastern Nigeria (Walter E.A. van Beek); The commodification of misery: markets for healing, markets for sickness (Zanzibar) (Nadine Beckmann); Individual or shared responsibility: the financing of medical treatment in rural Ethiopian households (Marleen Dekker); Can't buy me health: financial constraints and health-seeking behaviour in rural households in central Togo (Andr‚ Leliveld et al.); Marriage, commodification and the romantic ethic in Botswana (Rijk van Dijk). [ASC Leiden abstract] Show less
The overall objective of the present study was to assess the zoonotic potential of O. bifurcum, in other words to assess the risk of transmission of the simian parasite to humans. Knowledge of the... Show moreThe overall objective of the present study was to assess the zoonotic potential of O. bifurcum, in other words to assess the risk of transmission of the simian parasite to humans. Knowledge of the zoonotic potential of O. bifurcum is central to controlling the infection in humans. The specific research aims were (1) to establish the presence of O. bifurcum in different species of non-human primates in two geographical areas outside of the endemic region in Ghana, (2) to determine whether there is any significant morphological variation between O. bifurcum from human and from different species of non-human primates, (3) to test the hypothesis that O. bifurcum from humans is genetically distinct from the parasite from nonhuman primates, and (4) to establish whether the hookworm Ancylostoma duodenale occurs in sympatry with O. bifurcum and impacts on human health in northern Ghana. Show less
Oesophagostomum spp. are common nematode parasites of sheep, goats, cattle, and also of monkeys. Infection with this parasite can cause serious gastro-intestinal symptoms, which may lead to death.... Show moreOesophagostomum spp. are common nematode parasites of sheep, goats, cattle, and also of monkeys. Infection with this parasite can cause serious gastro-intestinal symptoms, which may lead to death. Since the beginning of this century, the parasite has also been described in humans on several occasions. Human infection with Oesophagostomum has always been considered as a zoonosis, an accidental infection of man with an animal parasite. It was assumed that its life-cycle was not completed in this unsuitable host. Show less
