Understanding wholistic health of Rohingya refugee women in Bangladesh: Perspective of medical pluralism

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K02113
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 08010:Sociology-related
• Research Institution: Tsuda University
• Principal Investigator: Matsuyama Akiko 津田塾大学, 学芸学部, 教授 (70404233)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 三砂 ちづる 津田塾大学, 学芸学部, 教授 (70342889)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: ロヒンギャ難民 / 多元的医療体系 / ホストコミュニティ / 村医者 / 伝統医療師 / 質的調査

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In 2017, Rohingya people fled their homes in Myanmar to find refuge in Cox’s Bazar, Chittagong, Bangladesh. An estimated one million Rohingya refugees are now living in the camps and the host community there. The purpose of the study is, through field visits, interviews, and other qualitative research methods such as the cultural domain analysis, to explore health/treatment seeking behavior of the refugees and the local residents in the host community. The study revealed that village doctors and a traditional healer in the community play a major role whereas big government hospitals are perceived reliable when they are sick. At the same time, we found that the treatment-seeking behavior of refugees differs slightly from that of the local residents, and that how easy it is for refugee women in particular to observe the pardha seems to influence their behavior.

Free Research Field

医療人類学、国際保健

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

歴史的に長く差別や迫害を受けてきたロヒンギャがバングラデシュへ再度大量流入した2017年以降、世界では新たな紛争、自然災害が立て続けに起こり、ロヒンギャ難民問題は、メディアではほとんど報道されなくなった。しかし、ロヒンギャ問題は長期化すればするほど、虐殺を逃れてバングラデシュにきた難民たち自身にとって、展望が見えない厳しい状況が続くだけではなく、難民キャンプを抱える地域にも国際社会にとっても切迫した問題となる。彼らが、現在はどのような課題を抱え、どういう支援が必要かを考える上で、実際に難民を受け入れている地元の住民と、地域に居ついている難民の健康希求行動を知ることは学術的及び社会的意義が高い。