Chinese health beliefs are based on local religion, traditions and philosophies, such as Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism and Mohism, among others. Chinese medicine works in accordance with the confidence that human body and environment are interconnected. The local set of medical practices tries to bring harmony in terms of health, good weather and fortune. This is because Chinese people believe that the lack of harmony causes diseases, bad luck and disasters. Local doctors therefore look at the whole picture while using acupuncture, specific foods and herbs to heal their patients, other than just treating the disease.
Guatemalans, try to retain their strong traditions despite the new ideas and technologies in the health sphere. It is important to note that in Guatemala, modern medicine is mostly found in cities. It is available to the people who can afford it. The rural areas still have traditional practices of curing diseases and mental health problems with herbal remedies. Dietary improvements, magic and prayers are other ways that Guatemalans use to heal a sickness. Deliveries here are performed by midwives at home as often as those at hospitals. Chinese and Guatemalan beliefs in healthcare are similar because they tend to use traditional medicine to deal with diseases through a holistic approach.
Chinese, Guatemalan and American Beliefs of Healthcare
The United States is a nation that has embraced modern technology in the healthcare sector. While basing on the scholastic approach in the beginning, USA has come a long way to become one of the biggest investors into science and evidence-based medicine of today. Many modern breakthroughs in health care were passed from the U.S. to South America and China that try to combine the latter with their traditional beliefs in healthcare.
The cause of illness is one of the differences that divide Chinese, Guatemalan and American healthcare beliefs. Worm infestations in Guatemala and China, for instance, have been considered normal unless they are caused by consequences of a rainy season (Hyder & Morrow, 2012). This means that the coming flood was evidenced to provoke poor sanitation. Healthcare in the United States, however, states that diseases are a result of natural and scientifically-based occurrences that require the use of complicated technological interventions to combat them. At the same time, USA is a multi-national country. Its cultural diversity has been reported to cause many individuals to fail to access healthcare as a result of cultural issues (Napier, et al., 2014). Contrarily, China and Guatemala do not face the difficulties mentioned with patient compliance to healthcare because their healthcare systems are deeply rooted in cultural traditions.
Different cultures have different explanations for the causes and treatment of various diseases. The United States is a nation that has made use of complex technologies in medicine, while China and Guatemala are the countries that are still deeply rooted in their indigenous traditions and beliefs. The impeding global health issues and communication developments make states like those two open up to and accept everything the modern world of medicine has to offer.
References
Hyder, A. A., & Morrow, R. H. (2012). Culture, behavior and health. In M. H. Merson, R. E. Black, & A. J. Mills (Eds.), Global health: Diseases, programs, systems, and policies (pp. 41-66). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Napier, A. D., Ancarno, C., Butler, B., Calabrese, J., Chater, A., Chatterjee, H., . . . Woolfe, K. (2014). Culture and health. The Lancet, 384(9954), 1607-1639. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(14)61603-2