This research is interested in how Coptic Orthodox Christians in Egypt, primarily in underserved areas, cope with illness. The health beliefs of a portion of this community were studied and individuals were interviewed and asked to complete a survey in order to quantitatively and qualitatively assess these beliefs and to form a general framework of what usually happens when a person finds themselves ill or diseased. This topic was picked because the researcher, from previous volunteering experiences in rural Egypt, noticed that this heavily religious community preferred religious intervention rather than biomedicine when seeking treatment or healing. Clergy and saints (both living and deceased) substitute physicians and religious objects, such as oil and incense, replace catheters and surgery. The thesis paper will be broken up into three parts: (1) the normative body and its meanings in the Coptic Church, (2) the diseased body and its meanings in the Coptic Church, including narratives and stories obtained during fieldwork, and (3) an assessment of the health beliefs of underserved Coptic Christians in light of the Egyptian health care system and possible recommendations to NGOs interested in outreaching to communities such as this.
I completed the majority of the fieldwork I had hoped to do for my project during the summer, as funded by The Center for Global Health at the University of Virginia. I was in Egypt a total of eight weeks, three of those weeks leading and participating in UVA's Alternative Spring Break Egypt trip. In regards to the volunteering aspect of this trip, my group and I put together an interactive public health program for kids in kindergarten through high school from two slums in Cairo, Ezbit Girgis, and Al-Qusoos. In respect to the research work, I surveyed about seventy individuals about their health beliefs and what they would do if faced with a serious illness. I also interviewed several individuals in villages about miracles that have happened to them and talked to them about this topic. In addition, I spoke with clergy, monks and nuns, and a bishop on the ecclesiastical aspects of healing and rituals and their thoughts on the topic. I also met with NGO workers, health care providers, teachers and church leaders. This semester, I plan tocontine reading about health beliefs among religious communities and study the health care system of Egypt more in depth, especially in terms of quality of health care. I also plan on compiling all my data from the surveys to create meaningful results, with the help of a research assistant at the International Family Medicine Clinic at UVA.