SH1661

Education and Health Systems

I. Functions of Education towards Individual

· Development of inborn potentialities – Education helps to develop the inborn potentialities of
a child.
· Modifying behavior – Education helps to modify the past behavior through learning and
through different agencies of education.
· Holistic development – Education aims at the all-round development of child-physical, mental,
social, emotional, and spiritual.
· Preparing for the future – When a child completes his/her education from kindergarten to
tertiary, s/he will be able to get a good-paying job where his/her knowledge and skills will be
utilized. Here, his/her education would have eventually led to productivity and success at work.
· Developing personality – The whole personality of the child is developed physically,
intellectually, morally, socially, aesthetically, and spiritually. S/he is recognized in the society.
Helping for adjustability – Human beings differ from beasts. Men and women have the power
to reason and think for themselves. We, as human beings, have the ability to adapt to our
environment and even change it through education.

II. Functions of Education towards Society

· Social change and control – Society is never stationary. It is progressive and dynamic. The
child exists in society. It is in the social environment where the child’s personality develops.
The old traditions, customs are preserved and transmitted with the situations, which are ever
changing. We should not think or follow in the blind beliefs, which are hindrances toward our
development. Education keeps us abreast with the advancements in science and technology.
· Reconstruction of experiences – Education is a life-long process. Life is education and
education is life. Life is full of experiences. One cannot live with his/her past experiences which
are unable to adjust in the society. So, education helps the individual to reconstruct the
experience and adjust with the environment.
· Development of social and moral values – The lack or absence of education among members
of the society can lead to narrow-mindedness. Here, they have the tendency to fend for
themselves at any cost. In worst cases, people may behave ‘barbarically’ to achieve personal
goals. This can be corrected through education. The reason is that it allows moral and social
values (e.g. cooperation, tolerance, sympathy, love, respect, and compassion) to be instilled
among members of the society.
· Providing opportunity or equality – The Indian Constitution has introduced the term ‘equality’
because we are not getting equal opportunities in all aspects. Through education, we are taught
the value of giving equal opportunities in all aspects regardless of caste, creed, color, sex, and
religion.

III. Functions of Education towards Nation

· Inculcation of civic and social responsibility – Education allows members of the next
generation to understand their rights and duties as citizens in a democratic country.
· Training for leadership – An individual’s leadership qualities are developed when s/he
participates in all spheres of social, political, religious, and educational activities.

08 Handout 1 *Property of STI

Page 1 of 4
 SH1661

· National integration – We are living in one country having differences in color, caste,
language, diet, dress, habits, and physical environment. Educational integration leads to
emotional integration. Education trains people for unity, not for locality, for democracy and
not for dictatorship. Education serves the most important end of educating man.
· Total national development – Education helps for bringing about total national development
by developing all aspects i.e. social, economic, cultural, spiritual, moral, educational, etc.

IV. Health System

· It is the sum total of all the organizations, institutions, and resources whose primary purpose is
to improve health.
· It needs staff, funds, information, supplies, transport, communications, and overall guidance
and direction. It needs to provide services that are responsive and financially fair, while treating
people decently.

V. Cross-cultural Health Systems

A. Culture-specific Syndrome and Illness
o In medicine and medical anthropology, a culture-bound syndrome, culture-specific
syndrome or folk illness is a combination of psychiatric and somatic symptoms, which the
body absorbs social stress and manifests symptoms of suffering.
o It is considered to be a recognizable disease only within a specific society or culture. In
short, it refers to a health problem with a collection of signs and symptoms that is
restricted/associated to a particular culture or a limited number of cultures.
Example: Usog or balis (An illness brought about by the greeting of a stranger.)
o Social factors such as stress, fear, or shock often are the underlying causes of culture–
specific syndromes. Biophysical symptoms may be involved, and culture-specific
syndromes can be fatal.
Examples:
Syndrome Group Description
Nervous Attack Hispanics Out-of-consciousness state resulting from
evil spirits.
Symptoms include attacks of crying,
trembling, uncontrollable shouting, physical
or verbal aggression, and intense heat in the
chest moving to the head. These attacks are
often associated with stressful events like
death of a loved one, divorce or separation, or
witnessing an accident including a family
member.
Amok Malaysians, A dissociative disorder involving outburst of
Laotians, Filipinos, violence and aggression or homicidal
Polynesians, Papua behavior at people and objects. A minor
New Guineans, insult would precipitate this condition.
Puerto Ricans Amnesia, exhaustion, and persecutory ideas
are often associated with this syndrome.
Brain Fag African Americans Problems with concentration and thinking
among high school and university students
08 Handout 1 *Property of STI
Page 2 of 4
 SH1661

experiencing the challenges of schooling.

Symptoms include head and neck pain,
blurring of vision, burning and heat
resembling. Somatoform, Depressive, and
Anxiety Disorder
Ghost Sickness American Indians Weakness, dizziness, fainting, anxiety,
hallucinations, confusion, and loss of appetite
resulting from the action of witches and evil
forces.
Wind or Cold Hispanics, Asians A fear of cold and the wind; feeling weakness
Illness and susceptibility to illness resulting from the
belief that natural and supernatural elements
are not balanced.
B. Ethnomedicine
o It refers to the study of cross-cultural health systems, which first came into use in the 1960s.
o It expanded its focus to include topics such as perceptions of the body, culture and
disability, and change in indigenous or “traditional” healing systems, especially as resulting
from globalization.
o Previously, it was known as non-Western health systems and/or primitive medicine for
WBM (Western Biomedicine) is considered as the healing approach based on modern
Western science that emphasizes technology in diagnosing and treating health problems
related to the human body. Today, it encompasses health systems everywhere.

C. Perceptions of the Body

Western Biomedicine
o Mind and body are distinct.
o A person may be declared dead while the heart is still beating, so long as the brain is
judged to be “dead” (no brain activity).

Ethnomedicine
o The body is a bounded physical unit.
o People do not accept a person brain death (no brain activity).

D. Defining and Classifying Health Problems (System of Diagnosis)

Western Biomedicine
o Disease is referred to as a biological health problem that is objective and universal, such as
a bacterial or viral infection or a broken arm.
o Illness is referred to as culturally specific perceptions and experiences of a health problem.
o Western Biomedicine is based on scientific understanding.

Ethnomedicine
o This is the basis for labelling and classifying health problems such as its cause, vector,
affected body part, symptoms, or combinations of these.
o Knowledgeable elders are the keepers and pass it down through oral traditions.
o It is based on natural, socioeconomic, psychological, or supernatural causes.

08 Handout 1 *Property of STI

Page 3 of 4
 SH1661

E. Prevention
It is based on either religious or secular beliefs, exist cross-culturally for preventing misfortune,
suffering, and illness.
Example:
Illness Awas (lumps/marks on the skin)
Pregnant women may have been denied food they desired or have been
Cause pressured to eat food they did not want, or they may have encountered a rude,
drunk, or angry person (usually a man).
Be considerate of pregnant women, make sure to give her the food she wants,
Prevention and behave with respect in her presence. In short, a pregnant woman should be
content.
Examples of ritual health protection worldwide include charms, spells, and sacred strings tied
around parts of the body.
Illness Sudden death of men
People believe that widow ghosts roam around in search for men who will be
Cause taken as ‘husbands’, and to whom these ghosts will have sexual intercourse
with.
Displaying wooden-carved phalluses in residential compounds to protect
Prevention residents, especially boys and men, from the “nightmare deaths” at the hands
of malevolent “widow ghosts.”
F. Healing Systems
Western Biomedicine
o Humoral Healing emphasizes balance among natural elements within the body.
Example: Use of food and drugs

Ethnomedicine
o Community healing emphasizes the social context as a key component, and is carried out
within the public domain.
Example: Dance as a healing substance

In an informal sense, everyone is a “healer” because self-treatment is always the first

consideration in dealing with a perceived health problem.

Some people become recognized as having special abilities to diagnose and treat health
problems. Cross-cultural evidence indicates some common criteria of healers.

References:
Atutubo, Ina. (2011). Is “usog” for real? Retrieved from http://www.smartparenting.com.ph/parenting/baby/is-usog-for-real
Benally, Steven Jr. (n.d.). Health, illness, and healing. Retrieved from http://www.pearsonhighered.com/samplechapter/0205683290_ch7.
Cross-cultural health systems. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.who.int/features/qa/28/en/
Culture bound syndromes. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://msu.edu/course/sw/850/stocks/pack/u02/cltsyndr.pdf
Garley, Laura. (2011). Begin with the end. Retrieved from http://www.the-teachers-lounge.com/blog/2011/12/activity-motivate-students/
Preamble to the Constitution of the World Health Organization as adopted by the International Health Conference, New York, 19-22 June,
1946; signed on 22 July 1946 by the representatives of 61 States (Official Records of the World Health Organization, no. 2, p. 100)
and entered into force on 7 April 1948.
Sharma, Aman. (2012). What are the functions of education towards individual, society and country?. Retrieved from
http://www.preservearticles.com/201102244178/what-are-the-functions-of-education-towards-individual-society-and-country.html

08 Handout 1 *Property of STI

Page 4 of 4