Villagers view on illness and disease“When I am sick, it seems my whole family is sick. Nobody is here to cook for my family. Sometimes I have to do household works, although I am sick. I try to maintain good health to do my work properly & lead a happy life” -said Rahima Sources: fieldwork 2017 Like Rahima, Most of the people of my research area wants have a good health in order to perform their roles appropriately. The disease affects their ability to perform work. Not all symptoms of disease hinder them to perform their roles unless it goes to severe. Usually an elder member of a family, like a grandmother, mother, sometimes husband or father recognizes the illness of a family member.
It is the very first step of diagnosis of disease. After this acknowledgment, the disease draws significant attention. Social recognition of symptom of disease does not require any pathological examination.
It does not need the determination of the pathological condition of a patient in the application of local treatment and in taking ethno medicine rather based on identifying causes of diseases. Disease and illness are “different ways of explaining sickness, different construction of social reality” (Kleinman 1978:88). Perception about Disease and illness varies from culture to culture; even individual to individual within a single cultural setting. According to Fosu(1981), The people of Berekuso ,a rural community of Ghana classify diseases according their own explanation. The basis of this classification of the disease includes what or which is believed to be the cause and origin of a disease. In this respect the explanation of cause of diseases is vital one in choosing therapy. They classify diseases into three types such as diseases are caused by natural agents; diseases are caused by supernatural agents and diseases whose causes comprise both natural and supernatural agents.
This classification of the cause of diseases determined of what health care practice would be sought. In this chapter will discuss about own explanation of illness of villagers of Hairmara and how they classify the causes of diseases. Their explanation and classification of causes of disease greatly vary from individual to individual because of the capital they have (i.e.
cultural, social, economic capital).
