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Biomedical subjects

G De Virgilio

Publications and source records attributed to G De Virgilio.

4 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2000

Cultural meanings of tuberculosis in Aceh Province, Sumatra.

This paper shows how disease transmission and particularly what biomedicine calls tuberculosis are interpreted in the non-Western context of Aceh Province, Sumatra, Indonesia. It tries also to focus on factors influencing perceptions and health-seeking behaviors. Results show that what biomedicine calls TB is represented by a semantic network of illnesses. Parts of this network are clearly identified as transmissible while others are related to specific phenomena affecting the individual, such as terbuk (poisoning) or trouk (fatigue produced by hard work), and are not considered contagious. Forms of transmission are interpreted mostly through empirical and analogic categories. TB is attributed to four different aspects: (a) biomedical categories such as germ theory; (b) socio-economic conditions; (c) transgression of social rules; and (d) poisoning and the influences of supernatural powers. Health-seeking behaviors are related to the perceived causes of the disease, economic factors, and the accessibility of health services.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Problem-based learning for training primary health care managers in developing countries.

The 'International Course for Primary Health Care Managers at District Level In Developing Countries' (ICHM) came into being in 1988. Its creation was the direct result of an Italian Government initiative to improve the managerial skills of health care personnel at intermediate level. Problem-based learning (PBL) was selected as the most promising educational approach and the method became associated with primary health care (PHC) management. At the end of three experimental years (1988-1990) a basic course structure that would be open to continual improvement was defined. This paper describes how PBL was implemented practically in 1991, the main problems identified with the method and the corrective action taken for the year 1992.

Administrative Personnel↗
PubMed1989

Tuberculin survey among Afghan refugee children. Tuberculosis control programme among Afghan refugees in North West Frontier Province (NWFP) Pakistan.

Since 1982 over 2 million Afghan refugees have settled in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) of Pakistan. Socio-economical factors, sudden urbanisation and psychological stress may influence the pattern of tuberculosis morbidity and infection among refugees as compared with the original population. In order to study the prevalence of tuberculous infection among Afghan children a tuberculin survey was carried out in April and May 1985 on a cluster sample of male children attending the first two grades of primary schools in refugee camps in the NWFP. The sample size was 4108 male children with an average age of 8 years. 1358 of them, average age of 7.8 years, had not been vaccinated with BCG. An infection prevalence of 13.8% was found when using a transverse diameter of 10 mm induration or more for the tuberculin test as the criterion for infection. The findings were compared with the results of a national sample survey carried out in Afghanistan in 1978: a downward trend of the annual risk of infection (ARI) of 7.8% per year was found in children of the same age group. Thus, Afghan children living in refugee camps in NWFP showed a lower ARI than was observed in their homeland 7 years earlier.

Afghanistan↗