Lukautim Yu Yet Gut (Take Good Care of Yourself): Moka Gomo Women Pursuing Health in Papua New Guinea

Abstract

Drawing on ethnographic research and interviews with women in Imbonggu (Southern Highlands Province), this article explores contemporary cultural beliefs and health practices, including health-seeking experiences. We show that contrary to some expectations, women do believe in biomedicine and their cultural beliefs do not generally seem to prevent them from seeking medical care. We find that women aspire to ‘take good care’ of themselves, and repeatedly pursue medical treatment, even when a cure is elusive. Contemporary cultural values such as comfort, strength and freedom encourage women to use medical services and they rarely engage with healers categorised as traditional. Reproductive abandonment in Papua New Guinea includes failing to provide medical infrastructure, failing to recognise the structural and social origins of ill health, and making assumptions or generalisations about women’s health beliefs and behaviours. These conditions limit women’s ability to have healthy (re)productive lives.