Working for Change 27
When the women had named a long list of causes,
Valeria suggested putting the causes in groups. This way
it is easier to see the different kinds of conditions that
cause health problems:
Step 9: It may help to
group the causes together
to think about what can
be done to address them.
Physical causes: germs or parasites, or something that
goes wrong in the body or that the body lacks.
Environmental causes: conditions in the physical surroundings
that harm the body, such as cooking smoke, lack of clean water,
or crowded living conditions.
Social causes: the way people relate to or treat each other,
including their attitudes, customs, and beliefs.
Political and economic causes: causes having to do with
power—who has control and how—and money, land, and
resources—who has them and who does not.
When the women put the causes of Juanita’s problem into
these groups, they came up with the following list:
This is a
nice list,
but what
can we do
about these
things?
Where Women Have No Doctor 2012