Implementing Cultural Beliefs in Sri Lanka's Health Initiatives

This discussion post examines the influence of cultural beliefs on the success of Sri Lanka's maternal health program, specifically the "Saving Mother's Lives" initiative. It highlights how cultural and historical aspects, such as the high status of women, low rates of child marriage, and emphasis on education for girls, have facilitated the implementation of effective health programs. The post also discusses the importance of cultural competence in healthcare, including understanding traditional medicine like Ayurveda and respecting cultural norms related to family involvement and patient communication. Ultimately, the author concludes that integrating cultural beliefs into healthcare practices is crucial for improving patient response and achieving better health outcomes.

Running head: CULTURAL BELIEFS AND ITS IMPLEMENTATION IN HEALTH
CULTURAL BELIEFS AND ITS IMPLEMENTATION IN HEALTH
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Author’s Note:

1CULTURAL BELIEFS AND ITS IMPLEMENTATION IN HEALTH
Cultural relevance is needed to be present in the patient treatment in order to have a
profound effect on the reception of the health care service (Garran et al., 2013). According to
certain cultures the occurrence of health disorders is due to some supernatural phenomenon
and they try to promote spiritual interventions to counter the illness. Similarly this respond
highlights the cultural beliefs and the impact it has on the health programmes.
A major feature of the cultural and historical aspects of Sri Lanka is the provision of
universal health care. This has helped the country to prosper in the medical field by
implementation of several health programmes like “Saving Mother’s lives”. In countries
where the position of women is held high, implementation of such initiatives become easier.
Low rates of child marriage and burning widows and higher education of the girl child, helps
in provision of better health programmes especially for women. Cultures such as infant care
and child rearing also has an impact. ("How culture influences health beliefs", 2018).
Therefore, health care initiatives are taken for proper growth and well-being of the child.
The culture of Sri Lanka has accustomed with western medicine although traditional
systems of Ayurveda is still used. Their culture promotes the involvement of the family in
matters of health. The cultural practice includes designation of the right hand and the left
hand for specific tasks. This often affects the patients comfort with use of one arm for
drawing blood and the other for the insertion of an IV ("Home of the Office of Disease
Prevention and Health Promotion - health.gov", 2018).
In order to provide effective health care, cultural competence must be considered. One
such component is Alternative medicine, like Ayurveda. The health care providers should
have a knowledge of this and encourage its use in order to make the patients perceive the
treatment in familiar way. Other cultural aspects must also be kept in mind so that they are
able to respect their traditional norms and provide care accordingly. This may include seeking

2CULTURAL BELIEFS AND ITS IMPLEMENTATION IN HEALTH
of family help of the patients, maintaining confidentiality for terminal diagnosis and making
sure the patients know about out-of-pocket costs (Renzaho et al., 2013).
In conclusion it can be stated that for better response of individuals towards health
care, cultural competence should be maintained. This is because the cultural beliefs influence
the health beliefs that are needs to be implemented in the health services.

3CULTURAL BELIEFS AND ITS IMPLEMENTATION IN HEALTH
References
Garran, A. M., & Werkmeister Rozas, L. (2013). Cultural competence revisited. Journal of
Ethnic and Cultural Diversity in Social Work, 22(2), 97-111.
Home of the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion - health.gov. (2018).
Retrieved from https://health.gov/
How culture influences health beliefs. (2018). Retrieved from
https://www.euromedinfo.eu/how-culture-influences-health-beliefs.html/
Renzaho, A. M. N., Romios, P., Crock, C., & Sønderlund, A. L. (2013). The effectiveness of
cultural competence programs in ethnic minority patient-centered health care—a
systematic review of the literature. International Journal for Quality in Health
Care, 25(3), 261-269.