SELF (LAY) CARE IN A DEVELOPING COUNTRY A STUDY OF THREE COMMUNITIES IN ETHIOPIA

Abstract

The attainment of the social goal of "Health For All by the 2000", (HFA/2000~ assumes that people will take the responsibilities for their health in the spirit of self determination and self reliance (106,107)*. The promotion of self-care, as part of this movement has caught the imagination of many, (104). Self-care is probably not only as old as mankind but also most widely used, (29, 30), however, because of the dominance of the institutionalized biomedical bio-medical appr8ach, it has been a neglected field of study (30). The Health Care Crisis'. in the West has led to a reveal of interest in self-care (57,59). Presently, the role of self-care in the developed countries is being debated and a number of studies are being carried out (17, 18, 46,54)**.