[Cultural barriers in health/medical services and the efforts to lower them].

Cultural competence and cultural adaptation are currently considered important components of the quality of health/ medical services in multi-cultural societies. These include not only treatment of disease, but also primary, secondary and tertiary prevention by professionals, as well as health promotion and management by the population. Migrant populations who are in the processes of transition and acculturation are in much stronger need for cultural specific communication and adaptation. The case of immigrants from Ethiopia to Israel is unique, as the immigrants moved within a short time from highly traditional culture, with its perceptions of health, disease, and their causes, to modern health services, based on bio-medical theory and practice. The paper by Dayan and Shvartzman, discusses the important aspect of women's health and compares the situation of Ethiopian women in Israel to that of other migrant women in different parts of the world.