Makoge Valerie, Maat Harro, Vaandrager Lenneke, Koelen Maria
Health and Society (HSO) group, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
Institute of Medical Research and Medicinal Plant studies (IMPM), Yaoundé, Cameroon.
PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2017 Jan 4;11(1):e0005218. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0005218. eCollection 2017 Jan.
Poverty-Related Diseases (PRDs) emphasize poverty as a 'breeding-ground' for a range of diseases. The study presented here starts from the premise that poverty is a general condition that can limit people's capacity to prevent, mitigate or treat diseases. Using an interpretation of health seeking behaviour (HSB), inspired by the salutogenic approach, we investigated how people deal with PRDs, their ability and strategies put in place to cope. We collected HSB data from two groups of respondents in Cameroon: labourers of the Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC) living in settlements called camps and students of the state universities of Buea and Yaoundé living in settlements we refer to as campuses. By selecting these groups, the study offers a unique view of how different people cope with similar health challenges. We carried out semi-structured interviews with 21 camp dwellers and 21 students in a cross-sectional study. Our findings revealed 1) respondents use multiple resources to cope with PRDs. 2) Respondents' perceptions of diseases and connection with poverty closely ties to general hygienic conditions of their living environment. 3) Utilisation of health facilities is not strongly dependent on financial resources. 4) Volatile health facilities are a major challenge and reason for people to revert to other health resources. The study brings out the need for organisations (governmental and non-governmental) to strengthen people's capacities to cope with health situations through better health and housing policies geared at incorporating practices currently used by the people and supporting pro-hygienic initiatives.
贫困相关疾病（PRDs）强调贫困是一系列疾病的“滋生地”。本文所呈现的研究基于这样一个前提，即贫困是一种普遍状况，它会限制人们预防、减轻或治疗疾病的能力。我们借鉴健康生成法对求医行为（HSB）进行解读，调查了人们如何应对贫困相关疾病，以及他们应对的能力和所采取的策略。我们从喀麦隆的两组受访者那里收集了求医行为数据：居住在名为营地的定居点的喀麦隆发展公司（CDC）的劳动者，以及居住在我们称为校园的定居点的布埃亚和雅温得国立大学的学生。通过选择这些群体，该研究提供了一个独特视角，以了解不同的人如何应对类似的健康挑战。在一项横断面研究中，我们对21名营地居民和21名学生进行了半结构化访谈。我们的研究结果显示：1）受访者使用多种资源来应对贫困相关疾病。2）受访者对疾病的认知以及与贫困的关联与他们生活环境的总体卫生条件密切相关。3）对医疗设施的利用并不强烈依赖于经济资源。4）不稳定的医疗设施是人们转而寻求其他健康资源的主要挑战和原因。该研究表明，各组织（政府组织和非政府组织）有必要通过更好的健康和住房政策来增强人们应对健康状况的能力，这些政策应纳入人们目前所采用的做法，并支持促进卫生的倡议。
