Personhood, human rights and health among the Akan and Igbo of West Africa

Abstract

Many African countries are now abreast with the need to link healthcare and human rights, but the individual factor to ensure this is missing. It has become imperative that health policy-makers reflect on the health of individuals within the community in order to achieve a holistic healthcare delivery. Thus, the patients’ inputs and their cultural values are invaluable for community health. This essay attempts to identify and examine the relationship between healthcare and human rights based on the Akan and Igbo (African societies) concepts of personhood. The main argument of this essay is that the concept of personhood, as exists in the aforementioned indigenous societies, provides the framework for understanding human rights and healthcare based on cultural relativism. The essay identifies some of the discourses associated with human rights and healthcare in the western world and those of the Akan and Igbo