People on the Move

The movements of nomadic societies follow the rhythm of the seasons. Varying according to lifestyles and the terrain, these movements have various purposes particularly crop gathering, hunting, livestock rearing, and fishing. In order to live and survive, these people have learnt strategies that are adapted to the natural environment. One of the constant challenges facing them is how to deal with health problems as individuals and as a community. Because they live in dispersed groups and are constantly on the move, modern health structures rarely succeed in meeting their specific needs. So the survival of the group or tribe depends primarily on the relative efficacy of medicinal and other health-related knowledge and practices that have been handed down from generation to generation. The Woodaabe, a sub-group of West Africa's large Peul community, live in the arid lands of the Sahel bordering the Sahara Desert and have developed a health system which is an essential component of their strategy for life. They doggedly refuse to settle in one place and are determined to preserve a culture based on extensive livestock rearing. All year round, they follow their huge herds of cattle and sheep across the empty spaces of the Sahei-Sudanese savannah in search of scarce pasturage and water-holes whose presence depends on the capricious rainy season. This forces them into small family or tribal groups, which reduces pressure on the ecosystem. Their diet is essentially based on milk and milk products, and on such cereals as they can buy from local farming communities that they pass in their travels. Their own health is thus closely linked to that of their animals, and the first words fo llowing a greeting are usually inquiries World Health • 48th Year, No. 6, November-December 1995