Zvinorwadza : being a patient in the religious and medical plurality of the Mberengwa district, Zimbabwe

"Zvinorwadza," a very common formulation heard among patients in the Mberengwa district, Zimbabwe, means -it is painful- or -it hurts-. This book deals with patients in a rural area of southern Africa and poses two basic questions: What does it mean to be ill in this part of the world and what do patients' life-worlds look like? Patients' illness experiences are described with the word "pain," "anxiety" and sometimes "despair"; their social situations are often marked by "vulnerability," "exposedness" and "insecurity" which apply to both genders, but particulary to women; their help-seeking behaviour is characterised by "pragmatism," "complementarity" and "plurality"; their conceptions about illnesses and aetiologies involve qualities of "uncertainty," "flexibility" and "multidimensionality"; and, finally, patients' treatment experiences can be depicted in three words: some experienced "ease," others complete "healing," while a significant group of the multi-episodical patients experienced "non-deliverance." It is concluded that the phenomena illness and healing need to be regarded holistically and that it is of crucial importance to acknowledge patients' own ideas concerning these issues."