“SINGING THE HEALING”: THE RITUALS OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES CHURCH IN GHANA

While many in Ghana prefer modern medical systems, others use indigenous means such as those emanating from shrines and indigenous sects. Today, many religious practices in Ghana focus a greater part of their services on healing and the general wellbeing of its members. The formation of African Indigenous Churches (AICs) has played a central role in bridging the gap between indigenous and Christian concepts of worship, healing, and wellbeing. The Twelve Apostles Church, first of the AICs in Ghana, is prominent as far as good health and the wellbeing of its members are concerned. These indigenous musical healing practices are seldom recognised for their significant contribution towards good health and wellbeing. In this article, I use an ethnographic approach, employing interviews and participant observation, to describe the significance of the musical healing rituals of the Twelve Apostles Church in Ghana. The question is, how does drumming, dancing, and singing in the Twelve Apostles Church contribute to good health and wellbeing?

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Human Rights in the Least Developed Countries of Asia: An Index for Quantifying Sustainable Development Goal 3 (Good Health and Wellbeing)

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph18094747 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (9) ◽

pp. 4747

Author(s):

Karen G. Añaños Bedriñana ◽

José Antonio Rodríguez Martín ◽

Fanny T. Añaños

Keyword(s):

Sustainable Development ◽

Maternal Education ◽

Good Health ◽

Developed Countries ◽

Least Developed Countries ◽

Sustainable Development Goal ◽

Distance Method ◽

Development Goal ◽

Health And Wellbeing ◽

The Impact

This paper aims to measure disparities among the variables associated with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 defined by the United Nations (UN) in the least developed countries (LDCs) of Asia. In the terms of the UN Conference on Trade and Development, LDCs are countries with profound economic and social inequalities. The indicator was constructed using a set of variables associated with SDG3: Good Health and Wellbeing. Applying Pena’s DP2 distance method to the most recent data available (2018) enables regional ordering of Asia’s LDCs based on the values of these variables. The index integrates socioeconomic variables that permit examination of the impact of each individual indicator to determine territorial disparities in terms of the partial indicators of SDG3. “Maternal education,” “Proportion of women who make their own informed decisions regarding sexual relations, contraceptive use, and reproductive health care,” and “Gender parity index in primary education” are the most important variables in explaining spatial disparities in good health and wellbeing in the LDCs of Asia.

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Reinterpreting the SDGs: Taking Animals into Direct Consideration

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13020843 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (2) ◽

pp. 843

Author(s):

Olle Torpman ◽

Helena Röcklinsberg

Keyword(s):

Sustainable Development ◽

United Nations ◽

Sustainable Development Goals ◽

Good Health ◽

Clean Water ◽

Water And Sanitation ◽

Agenda 2030 ◽

Health And Wellbeing ◽

Development Goals ◽

Zero Hunger

The United Nations Agenda 2030 contains 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs). These goals are formulated in anthropocentric terms, meaning that they are to be achieved for the sake of humans. As such, the SDGs are neglecting the interests and welfare of non-human animals. Our aim in this paper was to ethically evaluate the assumptions that underlie the current anthropocentric stance of the SDGs. We argue that there are no good reasons to uphold these assumptions, and that the SDGs should therefore be reconsidered so that they take non-human animals into direct consideration. This has some interesting implications for how we should understand and fulfil the pursuit of sustainability in general. Most noticeably, several SDGs—such as those regarding zero hunger (SDG 2), good health and wellbeing (SDG 3), clean water and sanitation (SDG 6)—should be achieved for animals as well. Moreover, the measures we undertake in order to achieve the SDGs for humans must also take into direct account their effects on non-human animals.

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Ẹnu dùn ń rò’fọ́…: Theatre design, audience cognition and dramatic adaptation of Fagunwa’s texts

Journal of Adaptation in Film & Performance ◽

10.1386/jafp_00027_1 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 13 (3) ◽

pp. 185-202 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Michael Aderemi Adeoye

Keyword(s):

Participant Observation ◽

Text Design ◽

Theatre Design ◽

Vegetable Soup ◽

Ethnographic Approach ◽

Theoretical Structure ◽

Theatrical Adaptation ◽

Stage Performance ◽

Technical Challenges ◽

Analysis Of Performance

The stage performance of Langbodo, a play, which Nigerian dramatist Wale Ogunyemi adapted from Soyinka’s The Forest of a Thousand Daemons, which, in turn, is a translation of D. O. Fagunwa’s prose, Ògbójú Ọdẹ Nínú Igbó Irúnmalẹ̀. 'The bold hunter in the daemon-infested forest', exposed the limitation of the text as a bearer of meaning in the theatrical adaptation context. The limitation is analysed in this work to justify the centrality of adaptation in bridging the text-design-audience semiotic gap. This study examines the technical challenges of theatre design in D. O. Fagunwa’s works resulting from their adaptation as drama. The Yoruba apothegmatic idiom, Ẹnu ‘dùn ń rò’fọ́, agada ọwọ́ ṣeé ṣán’ko (which means, literally, that ‘vegetable soup can be prepared orally if a mere hand suffices for a cutlass’), a traditional derision for the inadequacies of the text, and the Barthesian notion of intertextuality serve as a dual theoretical structure in this study. A combination of methodologies including participant observation and ethnographic approach suffice for the retrieval and analysis of performance materials, respectively. Therefore, the study contends that the process of stage adaptation in Wale Ogunyemi’s play, Langbodo, used the technical contributions of theatre design, as a catalyst for connecting Fagunwa’s ideas to the final audience.

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A therapeutic community as a relevant and efficient ecclesial model in African Christianity

HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies ◽

10.4102/hts.v72i4.3226 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 72 (4) ◽

Author(s):

Matsobane Manala

Keyword(s):

South African ◽

Good Health ◽

Healing Ministry ◽

Black African ◽

African Christianity ◽

Health And Wellbeing ◽

Reformed Church ◽

Healing Community ◽

African Worldview ◽

Health And Healing

This article sets forth the argument that Christian ministry in Africa must become socially and culturally informed and constructed or else it will not touch the African soul and thus remain superficial. Black African people aspire above everything else to experience fullness of life and wellbeing here and now, as demonstrated by their greetings that are actually an enquiry into each other’s health and an expression of the wish for the other’s good health and wellbeing. The mainline churches that operate in Africa should embrace the scripturally sound Christian healing ministry in obedience to Christ’s commission to preach the gospel and heal the sick, if they are to prosper. Hence, this article discusses the following eight points, namely, (1) good health and healing as Africans’ important aspiration, (2) healing as the work of God and thus of the church, (3) the imperative of serious consideration of and respect for the African worldview, (4) membership decline and mainline churches’ loss of influence, (5) rethinking church in African Christianity, (6) the need for the black African church to adopt a therapeutic or healing community ecclesial model in order to position itself strategically to cater for the holistic needs of African (South African) church members and surrounding communities, (7) the rationale of the healing ministry in today’s Reformed Church in Africa and (8) the recommended healing ministry. The article closes with a few concluding statements and advice

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Factors related to street food consumer preferences of Gadjah Mada University students

Jurnal Gizi dan Dietetik Indonesia (Indonesian Journal of Nutrition and Dietetics) ◽

10.21927/ijnd.2016.4(2).63-70 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 4 (2) ◽

pp. 63

Author(s):

Winda Irwanti ◽

Yhona Paratmanitya

Keyword(s):

Test Score ◽

Consumer Preferences ◽

School Attendance ◽

Good Health ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Sectional Study ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Breakfast Consumption ◽

Health And Wellbeing ◽

Skipping Breakfast

ABSTRACTBackground: Breakfast plays an important role in ensuring the good health and wellbeing of an individual, especially children. Evidence suggests that breakfast consumption may improve cognitive function related to memory, exam test score and the level of school attendance.Objectives: To determine the breakfast habits and its risk factors in elementary school children in Bantul.Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in four elementary schools in the District Sedayu, Bantul with 126 children as subjects. Breakfast habits investigated by interviews to the children.Results: This study showed that there were 33% of children had no breakfast daily, or had skipped breakfast at least once in a week. The major reasons of children skipping breakfast were not having enough time (38.1%), not hungry (30.9%) and no food available in the morning at home (16.7%). A total of 15.9% mothers and 23% fathers were not breakfast daily according to their children. Breakfast habits of children significantly associated with the children’s perception towards parent’s breakfast habits.Conclusions: Breakfast habits of children significantly associated with the children’s perception towards parent’s breakfast habits.KEYWORDS: breakfast habit, children perception, parent’s breakfast habitABSTRAKLatar belakang: Sarapan memiliki peran dalam menjaga kesehatan dan kebahagiaan seseorang, termasuk anak. Penelitian terdahulu membuktikan bahwa sarapan mampu meningkatkan fungsi kognitif yang berhubungan dengan kemampuan mengingat, nilai ujian, dan tingkat kehadiran di sekolah.Tujuan: Untuk mengetahui kebiasaan sarapan anak sekolah dasar di Kabupaten Bantul, dan faktor-faktor yang mempengaruhinya.Metode: Studi cross-sectional ini dilaksanakan di 4 sekolah dasar di Wilayah Kecamatan Sedayu, Kabupaten Bantul, dengan jumlah subjek sebanyak 126 anak. Kebiasaan sarapan diketahui dari wawancara dengan anak.Hasil: Hasil menunjukkan bahwa sebesar 33% anak sarapan tidak setiap hari, atau dalam seminggu paling tidak 1x melewatkan sarapan. Alasan utama anak melewatkan sarapan adalah tidak punya cukup waktu (38,1%), tidak lapar (30,9%), dan tidak tersedianya sarapan di rumah pada pagi hari (16,7%). Sebanyak 15,9% ibu, dan 23% ayah juga sarapan tidak setiap hari menurut persepsi anak. Kebiasaan sarapan anak berhubungan secara signifikan dengan persepsi anak terhadap kebiasaan sarapan orang tuanya.Kesimpulan: Kebiasaan sarapan anak berhubungan secara signifikan dengan persepsi anak terhadap kebiasaan sarapan orang tuanya.KATA KUNCI: kebiasaan sarapan, persepsi anak, kebiasaan sarapan orang tua

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Exploring the relationship between community-based physical activity and wellbeing in people with dementia: a qualitative study

Ageing and Society ◽

10.1017/s0144686x16001124 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 38 (3) ◽

pp. 522-542

Author(s):

ALAN WRIGHT

Keyword(s):

Physical Activity ◽

Participant Observation ◽

Social Constructionist ◽

Attitudes And Beliefs ◽

Community Based ◽

Ethnographic Approach ◽

Theoretical Perspectives ◽

People With Dementia ◽

Informal Carers ◽

The Relationship

ABSTRACTThis study sought to identify factors which influenced how a group of people with dementia living in their own homes participated in community-based physical activity and explored the effect that exercise groups, dance and walking had on their wellbeing. A broadly ethnographic approach was adopted in which participant observation and interviews were employed. Nineteen people with dementia and seven formal and informal carers were included in the participant observation phase. Eleven people with dementia were interviewed. The analysis and interpretation of data was informed by embodiment and social constructionist theoretical perspectives. Findings suggest that a complex interplay between attitudes and beliefs, retained embodied abilities, and aspects of the physical and social environment influenced how individuals engaged in physical activity and the degree to which they experienced wellbeing as a result. Findings suggest that when certain factors co-exist, physical activity can provide a context within which people with dementia are able to use embodied skills in order to support fragile identities, connect with others and express themselves.

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Between the Politics of Difference and the Poetics of Similarity

Journal of Muslims in Europe ◽

10.1163/22117954-12341348 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 6 (2) ◽

pp. 198-215 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Marios Chatziprokopiou ◽

Panos Hatziprokopiou

Keyword(s):

Financial Crisis ◽

Cultural Context ◽

Blood Donation ◽

Participant Observation ◽

Religious Practices ◽

Far Right ◽

Politics Of Difference ◽

Political Implications ◽

Greek Art ◽

The Way

Abstract This paper studies the ritual of Ashura as performed by a group of Shia Pakistani migrants in Piraeus, Greece, inscribed in the context of the financial crisis that is currently shaking the country and its socio-political implications, notably the rise of the far-right. Based on participant observation, we start by unfolding the discourses through which our interlocutors attempt to legitimise their religious practices, by connecting the Karbala narrative with the current political oppression of Shiite minorities, but also by articulating a poetics of similarity with equivalent acts of faith from the Greek cultural context, rather than arguments on multiculturalist difference. We then turn our attention to the way Ashura is portrayed by Greek art and media, and we unpack how the poetics of similarity and the politics of difference are presented from different viewpoints. Finally, we study how the interrelations between this migrant Shiite community and ideas regarding the “national self” are manifested in symbolic uses of blood—from murderous threats received by Neo-Nazi groups, to their rejected proposal for a blood-donation campaign parallel to the Ashura.

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A place-based approach to healthy, happy lives

Local Authorities and the Social Determinants of Health ◽

10.1332/policypress/9781447356233.003.0007 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 105-120

Author(s):

Ruth Dombey ◽

Adrian Bonner

Keyword(s):

Cultural Change ◽

Third Sector ◽

Good Health ◽

Models Of Care ◽

The Public ◽

Health And Wellbeing ◽

Care Integration ◽

Health And Social Care ◽

Third Sector Organisations

This chapter outlines innovative approaches to maintain a healthy, happy, and safe community. The wider determinants of health — housing, environment, leisure, income, and education — are well recognised and are just as important as access to good health care. If we want to develop long-term strategies to enable social and cultural change with new models of care, more community-based responsibility for our neighbours and more freedoms and flexibilities to help us make better choices, then the role of place is key. place-based approaches, involving health and social care integration and outcome commissioning, have been developed with a view to a consideration of 'health' in all council planning. This reflects the place-based approach that is being promoted by the London Borough of Sutton as it delegates its statutory duties across the range of services it manages, collaborating with other statutory and third sector organisations within and beyond the two parliamentary constituencies of Sutton and Cheam, and Carshalton and Wallington. A place-based approach to health and wellbeing, in its widest sense, can bring together all parts of the public sector to focus on positive outcomes.

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Duelling Band-aids: Debating and Debunking Issues Affecting Primary Health Care to Achieve Deliverance for Australia's Health

Australian Journal of Primary Health ◽

10.1071/py00048 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 6 (4) ◽

pp. 147 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Judi Walker ◽

Grant Lennox

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Primary Health Care ◽

Institutional Care ◽

Health Spending ◽

Good Health ◽

Indigenous Populations ◽

Health And Wellbeing ◽

Primary Health ◽

The Status ◽

Care Approach

The constant pressure for growth on all areas of health spending is not matched by the country's capacity to pay. Despite a progressive shift to a primary health care approach that promotes health and wellbeing, illness prevention, healthy lifestyles, early detection, rehabilitation and public health strategies, not all segments of Australian society enjoy good health. In this paper, general indications of the health and wellbeing of Australians are described, and the health and wellbeing of two important population groups: rural and remote and Indigenous populations are discussed, providing a review of Australia's health system. Anomalies in the status of the health of Australians are apparent. Models of primary healthcare, individual health and urban health are compared with models of acute and institutional care, population health and rural health.

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The Politicization of Women’s Health and Wellbeing

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su12093593 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (9) ◽

pp. 3593 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Udi Sommer ◽

Aliza Forman-Rabinovici

Keyword(s):

Sustainable Development ◽

Women’S Health ◽

Women's Health ◽

Reproductive Rights ◽

Good Health ◽

Morality Policy ◽

Unique Challenge ◽

Intergovernmental Organization ◽

Health And Wellbeing ◽

Development Goals

The framers and advocates of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals face a unique challenge when it comes to the goals of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3, good health and wellbeing, as it concerns women’s health. The health of women, and in particular reproductive rights, have been politicized in the work of the UN. Forums of the UN have become a battleground between those who would frame reproductive rights as a morality policy versus those who frame them as a feminist policy. This problem is not new to the organization’s work. Indeed, it has been a challenge to the UN’s ability to promote women’s health for years. This article explores how the framing of women’s reproductive rights poses a unique challenge to implementing some of the goals of SDG3, and in particular targets 3.1, 3.7, and 3.8. It also offers strategies to surmount the challenge with an example of a different intergovernmental organization that managed to overcome this issue.

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