How healers manage the pluralistic healing context: the perspective of indigenous, religious and allopathic healers in relation to psychosis in Uganda.

This paper examines the relationships between service providers involved in caring for people with 'psychosis' in Uganda. Data from qualitative research investigating conceptualisations of 'madness' held by indigenous, religious and allopathic healers in urban Uganda are used to explore the attitudes of these different service providers towards each other. Case-vignettes of individuals with a diagnosis of a psychotic disorder were discussed by the healers and real cases were discussed by allopathic doctors, and their discourse was analysed.

Conceptualizing psychosis in Uganda: the perspective of indigenous and religious healers.

A qualitative study, investigating the representations and explanatory models of ;madness' held by indigenous and religious healers, was undertaken in urban Uganda. Case vignettes of individuals with a diagnosis of a psychotic disorder were discussed by the healers in terms of phenomenology, causality, intervention and outcome. Indigenous healers primarily understood ;madness' as spiritual or physiological, whereas religious healers also held psychological models.

Water usage patterns in low-income urban communities in Uganda: implications for water supply surveillance.

The selection of water sources by poor households in three urban areas in Uganda is shown to be complex, with a range of communal water sources used. In all towns, significant numbers of households used multiple sources. An aggregated estimate of the level of use in the largest town, Kampala, showed little difference in the number of households collecting water from piped and non-piped sources.