BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//EuroSEAS 2019//EN
X-WR-CALNAME:EuroSEAS 2019
BEGIN:VTIMEZONE
TZID:Europe/Berlin
X-LIC-LOCATION:Europe/Berlin
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:+0100
TZOFFSETTO:+0200
TZNAME:CEST
DTSTART:19700329T020000
RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=3;BYDAY=-1SU
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:+0200
TZOFFSETTO:+0100
TZNAME:CET
DTSTART:19701025T030000
RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=10;BYDAY=-1SU
END:STANDARD
END:VTIMEZONE
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260424T085400
UID:the-cultural-contexts-of-disease-in-southeast-asia-bile-duct-cancer-in-northeast-thailand-and-lao-pdr
SUMMARY:The Cultural Contexts of Disease in Southeast Asia: Bile Duct Cancer in Northeast Thailand and Lao PDR
LOCATION:Room 1.403
DESCRIPTION:Bile duct cancer (cholangiocarcinoma, abbreviated to CCA) is a 
 rare disease in most parts of the world; but in the Mekhong delta areas of 
 mainland South East Asia its high prevalence comes from chronic liver fluke
  infection. Medical evidence suggests that fluke infestation deriving from 
 the centuries-old cultural tradition of eating raw, partially cooked or fer
 mented river fish results in chronic bile duct inflammation leading to canc
 er in ca. 1–4% of cases. In Thailand this translates to around 20,000 death
 s per year, with an estimated similar number in Lao PDR. The slow developme
 nt of CCA remains asymptomatic until the later stages of the disease, as a 
 result of which few can be effectively treated. It is also largely a diseas
 e of the poor and of rural communities who have little access to healthcare
 .\n\nCCA frustrates medical specialists because the eradication of OV infec
 tion would prevent most cases altogether, hence saving thousands from dying
  a painful death. From their perspective, if only people would stop consumi
 ng raw fish, then the cancer rates would drop drastically. The complexity o
 f the problem is not, however, solely a medical one. Much more, it is one t
 hat clearly requires a respectful and ethical engagement across disciplines
  and between people, recognizing our subjectivity as humans. The problem of
  CCA calls for interdisciplinary collaboration between medicine, the social
  sciences and the humanities – between the fields of public health and hygi
 ene, epidemiology, parasitology, biochemistry, religious and spiritual beli
 ef patterns, history, geography, anthropology ecology, psychology, phenomen
 ology, socio- linguistics, postcolonial theory, literature, the arts and cu
 ltural studies. But it also calls yet more urgently for an openness to dial
 ogue and a willingness to listen to the Other. Decades of top-down public h
 ealthcare in Thailand have located the needs and cultural practices of rura
 l rice-farming communities as irrelevant and symptomatic of a lack of “civi
 lization”. And Bangkok-centric views of the regions affected by this diseas
 e can “classify” them almost sub-human. Only by fully and respectfully enga
 ging with the grassroots populations that are most vulnerable to this disea
 se – and to many others – can we make an ethical contribution to interventi
 on.
URL:https://euroseas2019.org/program/panels/the-cultural-contexts-of-disease-in-southeast-asia-bile-duct-cancer-in-northeast-thailand-and-lao-pdr
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20190913T133000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20190913T150000
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR