Health-seeking behaviour & community perceptions of childhood undernutrition in rural Bihar, India

Image of jallachatu. Jallachatu is believed to occur when a vulture flies over the mother during pregnancy. Drawing from an exhibition on malnutrition in Bihar by artist Vinoy Jha. This month’s featured paper is from Public Health Nutrition and is entitled ‘Health-seeking behaviour and community perceptions of childhood under-nutrition and a community management of acute malnutrition (CMAM) programme in rural Bihar, India’.  Médecins Sans Frontières’ (MSF) qualitative study is based on narrative interviews of over one hundred and fifty family members of severely malnourished children. Co-authored by Doris Burtscher and Sakib Burza, the study examines MSF’s six-year community-based management of acute malnutrition (CMAM) programme in Darbhanga district of Bihar, India. The study focuses on social, cultural and behavioural aspects of health-seekers.  The majority of the people who were interviewed said they did not perceive childhood under-nutrition as a disease or a life-threatening condition. The paper highlights that the limited understanding of the condition leads to poor health-seeking practices within communities. Malnourished children are denied medical treatment because their parents tend to seek traditional healers or local treatment instead of a doctor at a nearby, government-approved, healthcare facility. The study also identifies social and cultural norms that influence the attitude of health-seekers toward treatment and care for malnutrition. The stu...
Source: The Nutrition Society - Category: Nutrition Authors: Source Type: news