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A different type of medicine: women's experiences with ophthalmic diseases in rural and urban Tamil Nadu, India.

Subramanian KM

Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30322, USA. keerthika.subramanian@gmail.com

I conducted a study to understand how urban and rural women conceptualized eye diseases in Tamil Nadu state(1). I chose to examine eye diseases because ailments such as cataracts, glaucoma, refractive error, and diabetic retinopathy rank among the most serious diseases of Indian women. I collected observational, survey, and interview data to compare women from rural and urban areas. In line with my expectations, rural women were more likely to rely upon non-medical means of treatment than their urban counterparts. Contrary to expectations, however, I found that urban and rural Tamil women's overall dependence on nonmedical means was not excessive. Based on the study's findings, it appears that both urban and rural women express a marked preference for both traditional and modern medical treatments - a phenomenon that is known as medical pluralism. Rural participants expressed a greater interest in medical pluralism than their urban counterparts. The results of the study lead me to believe that medical pluralism may be associated with the patient's geographic residence. I conclude this article with a discussion of the consequences of medical pluralism for women's health and overall societal development in Tamil Nadu.

Published 4 April 2008 in Health Care Women Int, 29(4): 400-15.
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