Of ‘microbes’ and ‘millet’: the practice of tea tea in northern Uganda

Abstract

In northern Uganda, incisions called tea tea are commonly placed on the chests of children outside of the biomedical setting to relieve respiratory distress. To better characterize tea tea, we administered a questionnaire to 224 caretakers, whose children had evidence tea tea cuts. In 148 cases (66.4%), the grandparents made the decision to have the cuts performed, at times against the wishes of the caretakers. One seventy-six (80.0%) of the patients were seen by a medical professional just prior to receiving the cuts. Traditional healers and grandmothers, respectively, performed the cuts in 164 (73.5%) and 42 (18.8%) cases. Caretakers paid at least 500 USh (US$0.29) for tea tea in 129 cases (57.8%) and nothing in 71 cases (31.4%). This study shows that tea tea is a healing practice with associated costs that is regularly advocated for and performed by grandmothers and traditional healers.