Health care and Cultural Influences
- This is a preview of the essay.
To view the full text you must login!
The history of a country is often important in arriving at the beliefs that pervade its culture. Vietnam is a tropical country that is close to 4000 years old. Interwoven through its culture can be seen influences from both the Chinese and the French who were a strong presence in Vietnam for ten centuries and one century, respectively. In 1970 Vietnam collapsed and became a communist country. This gave rise to the ensuing waves of refugees that fled the country for a more secure environment in Canada and the United States. These refugees escaped their country under tragic circumstances and experienced horrible injustices on their journey to the Western world. Women and children were raped, men were robbed all were abused.
The diseases that the Vietnamese brought with them were those endemic to their native country: TB, parasites, Hepatitis B, etc. Beyond this, many of the refugees coming to this country came with tremendous emotional scarring and with the mental health problems that derive from such tragedies. These burdens were coupled with the challenges of resettlement, language barriers, and isolation from their native culture...