Naturopaths Without Borders: the movement toward naturopathic global health

Naturopaths Without Borders: the movement toward naturopathic global health

Naturopathic medicine is something we haven’t touched on very much throughout the semester, and having researched cultural practices when dealing with maternal breastfeeding behaviors in developing countries, I wanted to examine the profession of natural medicine and their efforts on the frontlines of global health.

Naturopathic Doctors (NDs) have found that natural medicine has been increasing in popularity in recent years as an acceptable form of treatment, speaking to the increasing “trend toward naturopathic global health” within the industry (Marchese, 2013). Organizations such as Naturopaths Without Borders have flourished and have developed intervention programs to tackle global health issues such as malnutrition. Consistent to what has been discussed in class, successful programs are those with scheduled approaches experiencing greater coverage and some built around Social Learning Theory. Coming across a narrative article by a North American ND- “Naturopathic Medicine Serving Underserved Communities” (Marchese, 2013)- on her efforts in Haiti however, questioned my advocacy for their efforts. Marchese describes her work with NWB in saying “[…] did not arrive with any expectations besides the expectations placed upon me as an experienced ND to […] supervise and teach naturopathic medical students”. How is this ND being trained by organizations such as NWB to work in developing communities with little inclination as to what she may be exposed to, and the stresses that she may be causing on their local systems? Is it wrong to not go into such communities without a purpose besides the ‘selfish’ means that come with public health professions?

 

Second, the malnutrition program as Marchese describes also teaches local parents about healthy diets and what malnutrition is. Are these practitioners being sensitive to the idea that they may be living on what may or may not be available to them as they are restricted by several underlying factors? Also, giving any regard to traditional food preparations underlined by cultural determinants? As a relatively new organization and approach to tackle global health problems, NWB from an initial investigation, has much to incorporate in terms of cultural sensitive training and even perhaps more efforts on research.

 

A final question I pose is the sustainability of this approach in the arena of global health with such intervention programs typically being more reliant on greater financing and even altercations of diet versus taking prescription medication. Would such practices be harder to change behaviors than traditional prescription medication?

 

What was promising however, was the idea that they approach global health issues based on the same principles guided by the profession such as identifying the causes and treating such causes as well as treating the whole person (Marchese, 2013).

 

I look forward to thoughts! 

Reference 

Marchese, Marianna (2013). Naturopathic Medicine Serving Underserved Communities. Natural Medicine Journal, 5(10).  

http://www.naturalmedicinejournal.com/journal/2013-10/naturopathic-medicine-serving-underserved-communities