Document Details

Healers, Clinics and Aboriginal People: Whose Health and Who Benefits?

Achieving better health outcomes for Aboriginal people remains a high priority for health providers. However, what can be overlooked in the delivery of health care is a very particular understanding of ‘health’ that Aboriginal people bring with them when they attend the local clinic or hospital. Within many central Australian communities there exist healers, maparn (also known as ngangkari) who attend to people’s sickness. In this article, the author describes the work of these healers, and raises questions about the health implications for Aboriginal people when their healers remain isolated from western medical health understandings and practice.

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Subject: Cultural diversity Rural and remote

Journal edition: Edition 86

Date published: 01/04/2006