Somali culture values traditional spiritual healing. Spiritual healers work independently or alongside general practitioners in Somali. Their practice commonly includes prayer rituals, fire burning (touching skin with a heated tree stick) and herbal medications (Children’s Hospital and Clinics of Minnesota, 2003, Lewis et al.).
Many Somali people believe spirits reside in all humans; if spirits become angry, illness is a common symptom. The “evil eye” – when praise or negative intentions from others bring on harm and illness to another – is a common illness explanation within Somali culture (Lewis et al.)
As the first step in the healing process, Somali’s often seek out spiritual healing ceremonies and religious-based rituals to treat diseases — burning incense, following the Koran, and eating special diets (Children’s Hospital and Clinics of Minnesota, 2003).
Their focus is not on health and illness prevention, but rather on treating disease after symptoms appear. For example, administering anti-tubercular agents to healthy people are not in-line with traditional cultural practices and beliefs about health. The traditional Somali understanding is that disease and illness are in God’s hands — western preventative treatments being unnecessary (Children’s Hospital and Clinics of Minnesota, 2003).
References:
Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota. (2003). Clinics and departments: Somali culture and medical traditions. Available: http://xpedio02.childrenshc.org/stellent/groups/public/@xcp/@web/ @clinicsanddepts/documents/policyreferenceprocedure/web025020.asp
Lewis, T.; Ahmed, B. & Hussein, K. Voices of the Somali Community. Available: http://ethnomed.org/ethnomed/voices/Somali.html
