Methods of health education used by indigenous communities in Kunene and Otjozondjupa Regions of Namibia

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore the methods that Namibia’s indigenous communities of Kunene and Otjozondjupa regions use to communicate and share health related information, issues and solutions. The socio-cultural theory informed this study as its main idea states that although solitude provide opportunity for learning, the social occasions of conversation, discussion, question and answer, demonstration and joint work play a critical role in teaching and learning. The collected interview data were analysed using a grounded theory approach and content analysis. The results show the Namibia’s indigenous communities of Kunene and Otjozondjupa regions came to know through flexible and simple methods of Show and Tell, Demonstration, Observation, Imitation, Experience and Practice, Trial and Error or Experimentation, and Questioning. The study recommends more research on the documentation of Namibian indigenous health knowledge to afford future generation access to the rich knowledge their ancestors originally had a claim on. The study further recommends for these methods to be considered by stakeholders in education sector so that they can be integrated in educational policies and programmes and applied at the classroom level.