Itinéraires thérapeutiques et rôles des agents sanitaires à l’hôpital provincial de Doba au Tchad : cas de la carie dentaire. Une contribution à l’anthropologie médicale

Abstract

The present research on "therapeutic itineraries and rules of health care workers at the provincial hospital of doba in chad: case of dental caries. Contribution to medical anthropology" is the subject of our research work. A research in medical anthropology. The problem posed here is that of socio-cultural, economic and geographical factors which influence the choice of therapeutic routes during illness such as dental caries. From the problem posed, the following question arises: what explains the choice of therapeutic itineraries for dental caries in Doba at the provincial hospital? How do patients in Doba choose their caries treatment routes? The following hypotheses apply to these questions: Individuals do not choose their therapeutic routes randomly, but this depends on the relational variables of their level of education, their conception of the disease, their cultures and the economic and geographical environment. Several medicinal practices are used by the Mongo people of Doba to provide a solution to this phenomenon which is gangrenous. From these hypotheses, the following objectives are derived: The present research aims to study the perceptions of dental caries and the behaviors in the search for care that it implies among the Mongo of Doba in Chad, and to trace the different therapeutic itineraries used by the Mongo of Doba in Chad, and to identify the reasons underlying the choice of therapeutic itineraries of the Mongo of Doba in Chad. Based on a qualitative approach, the present work was carried out through the use of observation data and in-depth individual interviews. This research has thus mobilised the ethno-perspective theory of Mbonji Edjenguélé (2005), the Ecological theory of Bronfenbreenner (1979) and the theory of functionalism of B. Malinowski (1951), to interpret the results. At the end of this investigation, we arrived at the following results: Therapeutic itineraries, individuals do not choose their therapeutic itineraries at random but this depends on the relational variables of their levels of education, their conception of the disease, their cultures and the economic and geographical environment. This research is limited to Doba in Chad, in the Mongo community the perceptions of the dental caries treatment route can only be understood in this community, but knowledge of this research can help to understand the phenomenon in other cultures.