Dr. Ronald L. Barrett of Emory University will undertake an investigation of the health-seeking behavior of Indian Muslim poultry workers who are at high risk for avian influenza infection. Proficient in Hindi and with considerable ethnographic field experience in India, Barrett will collaborate with Indian researchers to conduct research in a region of western India where H5N1 avian influenza recently has been detected for the first time. The poultry workers, who are socially isolated because their occupation as hereditary butchers is stigmatized, are known to partake of a variety of healing systems when stricken with infectious diseases. Researchers will determine the role of health beliefs, advice networks, and community trust in health-seeking decisions for influenza-like illnesses.
Dr. Barrett's research is important because understanding these health-seeking pathways will be essential for early case detection of avian influenza, and primary prevention against a future influenza pandemic, in the event that H5N1 develops sustainable human-to-human transmissibility. In addition, the project will further development of social network analysis theory because it makes innovative use of ego-centered social network analysis methods to determine the relative influence of gender roles and collective versus individual beliefs on household medical decisions when these processes cannot be observed directly. The project also will establish an internatiional research partnership between Emory University and the Surat Centre for Social Studies.
