FAITH HEALING AND WOMEN'S REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH

Abstract

This paper is based on several years of field research on African religious movements, particularly those led by women. It employs in-depth interviews, participant observation, collection of testimonies and case studies. It looks at how faith healing is patronised especially by women as a health delivery option. It suggests that, given the poor economic status of women, cultural beliefs, and the uncertainties of continuous medical services resulting from frequent strikes, or 'alutas' by hospital personnel, among other things, as well as the complementary role the churches play in health delivery, faith healing should be taken seriously by the national health delivery agencies. Faith healers include categories of religious personnel called prophets / prophetesses, male and female pastors, divine healers, traditional priests / priestesses etc. In this presentation, I focus on the first two categories