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Stopping the Spread: Educating Those Most Affected
The control
of Chagas' disease is challenging because it involves
modifying peoples' behavior that are deeply ingrained
within the culture. In Bolivia and many parts of Latin
America, agragarian people suffer greatly from chagas,
and their ways are difficult to change.
One needs
to examine the connection between insect infestation
and broader social and economic issues that bring about
the spread of this disease. Concientizacion,
consciousness-raising education, implies that community
members recognize the relationship between disease factors,
social and economic conditions, as well as cultural,
social, and behavioral factors through in-depth discussion.
It is the key first step in the successful treatment
of the disease.
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Work
remains to be done despite some improvements
Some community
health workers use fear as a tool to instill hatred
of vinchucas among campesinos. This is
new to the campesinos because the vinchucas
are thought to be signs of fertility. A more appropriate
strategy is to help people accept the connection between
the insect's presence in the home and the sickness or
death of loved ones. This is not as easy because many
people subsist from day to day and life expectancy is
not a major concern to them. They accept suffering and
disease in a fatalistic way. Concientizacion enables
them to take control of their destiny.
Positive
results are found in certain communities (see below).
Improvement in houses has led to feelings of prestige,
empowerment, and control of their lives. Hygiene, cleaner
homes, and health are within reach. Bites from the vinchucas
are now seen as intolerable.
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Ongoing
concientizacion has helped in stopping the spread
of Chagas' between 1985 and 1996 (source: the World
Heath Organization)
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