Lidar com a doença mental : a pluralidade de sistemas de cuidados e de itinerários terapêuticos : análise comparativa de dois estudos efectuados junto de duas populações residentes em Portugal

Several studies point to the plurality of care systems to deal with illness. They can be organized into professional, popular and alternative systems (the latter includes the complementary and the traditional ones). What the particular setup is in each cultural system is the core question of both the empirical studies we report. The purpose of this article is to understand how lay people deal with mental illness, examining the therapeutic itineraries that are constructed between plural care systems, featuring in particular the use of traditional medicine. The analysis of the two studies (one carried out in the north region and the other in Lisbon) allowed us to interpret these practices and discuss the social and cultural factors that determine and explain the settings that were found. Both researches fit into a qualitative methodology. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were performed and were analyzed using discourse analysis to describe and interpret data. The results point to a plurality of therapeutic itineraries, built around public and private speeches, where the explanatory systems underlying the use of official medicine and/or traditional practices found plural meanings. People may use these systems in several forms, using one or combining more than one, simultaneously or sequentially, depending on the context and on the needs they feel to face both illness and mental suffering. It is in between the space of the impotence and ‘incompetence’ of the ‘wise’ medicine that other therapeutic systems develop. It is important to understand those systems because of their achievements and their heuristic power to explain society and culture.

Appraising and selecting strategies to combat and mitigate desertification based on stakeholder knowledge and globalbest practices in Cape Verde Archipelago

Cape Verde is considered part of Sahelian Africa, where drought and desertification are common occurrences. The main activity of the rural population is rain-fed agriculture, which over time has been increasingly challenged by high temporal and spatial rainfall variability, lack of inputs, limited land area, fragmentation of land, steep slopes, pests, lack of mechanization and loss of top soil by water erosion. Human activities, largely through poor farming practices and deforestation (Gomez, 1989) have accelerated natural erosion processes, shifting the balance between soil erosion and soil formation (Norton, 1987). According to previous studies, vegetation cover is one of the most important factors in controlling soil loss (Cyr et al., 1995; Hupy, 2004; Zhang et al., 2004; Zhou et al., 2006). For this reason, reforestation is a touchstone of the Cape Verdean policy to combat desertification. After Independence in 1975, the Cape Verde government had pressing and closely entangled environmental and socio-economic issues to address, as long-term desertification had resulted in a lack of soil cover, severe soil erosion and a scarcity of water resources and fuel wood. Across the archipelago, desertification was resulting from a variety of processes including poor farming practices, soil erosion by water and wind, soil and water salinity in coastal areas due to over pumping and seawater intrusion, drought and unplanned urbanization (DGA-MAAP, 2004). All these issues directly affected socio-economic vulnerability in rural areas, where about 70% of people depended directly or indirectly on agriculture in 1975. By becoming part of the Inter- State Committee for the Fight against Drought in the Sahel in 1975, the government of Cape Verde gained structured support to address these issues more efficiently. Presentday policies and strategies were defined on the basis of rational use of resources and human efforts and were incorporated into three subsequent national plans: the National Action Plan for Development (NDP) (1982–1986), the NDP (1986–1990) and the NDP (1991–1995) (Carvalho