The Role of Catholic Missionaries in the Development of Health Services in Kihanja and Ihangiro Chiefdoms from 1904 to 1961
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SAUT
Abstract
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The study investigated the role of Catholic missionaries in the development of health
services in Kihanja and Ihangiro chiefdoms in Bukoba District from 1904 to 1961. The
specific objectives of the study were to describe evolution of Catholic missionary health
services in relation with the colonial states’ medical policies; to identify curative and
preventive roles of Catholic missionaries in the development of health services, and to
explore the role of missionary health services in transforming Africans from traditional
to Western medical treatment in Kihanja and Ihangiro chiefdoms.
The researcher employed historical design and qualitative approach where
documentary, in-depth interviews and observation methods were used to collect data.
The research reveals that colonial governments’ health services concentrated in urban
areas while medical missions provided both curative and preventive health services
mainly in rural areas.
Moreover, the study demonstrates that though many Bahaya people in Kihanja and
Ihangiro were converted to Christianity and eventually introduced to Western medical
practice, they did not totally shun away from their traditional healing systems. The
practice of both healing systems co-existed depending on the nature of the disease and
the system that assured them effective relief.
It is concluded that medical missions were vital to the development of health services
for the sake of African rural population. In addition, missions’ collaboration with the
government was not done to perpetuate colonialism but was only accepted where
missions’ interest of curing the body and saving African souls was guaranteed, but
where it was not, missionaries normally abstained.
Keywords
Catholic Missionaries