An exploratory study of the use of non-biomedical treatments by cancer patients in India, 2007-2008 British Academy Grant

Alex Broom and Phil Tovey [Leeds], K.R. Nayar [JNU India]

Research programs: Globalisation and International Development

In India, as in many poorer countries, the increasingly international nature of healthcare provision, has, in theory, established a wide range of therapeutic options. These are indigenous and non-indigenous, biomedical and non-biomedical. There is anecdotal evidence of this therapeutic pluralism in cancer care in India. Medicine has become an important expression of political and cultural relations both between economically richer and poorer countries and indeed between poorer countries. The global environment is complex: this is not simply a matter of ‘western’ biomedical dominance but also involves the ‘re-discovery’ of indigenous medicine as an expression of post-colonial autonomy, and indeed to complicate matters further, the importation of other non-biomedical therapies from other poorer countries via the west (such as acupuncture). International bodies (such as the World Health Organisation) are increasingly looking to ‘Traditional Medicine’ as a means of meeting unmet need in poorer countries. The aim of the study is to provide the first baseline data on the use of indigenous and non-indigenous non-biomedical practices for cancer treatment in order to provide a baseline from which to pursue further in depth qualitative studies. We will establish: the extent of use, levels of satisfaction and views on effectiveness, pathways to medicines and help-seeking behaviour.