«Zvinorwadza» - Being a patient in the religious and medical plurality of the Mberengwa district, Zimbabwe

Zvinorwadza, a very common formulation heard among patients in the Mberengwa district, Zimbabwe, means "it is painful" or "it hurts". This book deals with patients in a rural area of southern Africa and poses two basic questions : What does it mean to be ill in this part of the world and what do patients' life-worlds look like ? Patients' illness experiences are described with the word pain, anxiety and sometimes despair ; their social situations are often marked by vulnerability, exposedness and insecurity which apply to both genders, but particulary to women ; their help-seeking behaviour is characterised by pragmatism, complementarity and plurality ; their conceptions about illnesses and aetiologies involve qualities of uncertainty, flexibility and multidimensionality ; and, finally, patients' treatment experiences can be depicted in three words : some experienced ease, others complete healing, while a significant group of the multi-episodical patients experienced non-deliverance.
It is concluded that the phenomena illness and healing need to be regarded holistically and that it is of crucial importance to acknowledge patients' own ideas concerning these issues.