The cultural context of childhood diarrhoea among Gogo infants

Abstract

The paper describes the cultural context of two specific types of childhood diarrhoea during breastfeeding among the Wagogo of Tanzania. Wagogo believe that both the mother's and the father's behaviour affect the proper development of their newborn child. Parents' moral failure, such as a violation of post-partum taboos, can be the cause of the most serious cases of childhood diarrhoea. In Gogo beliefs there is a strong link between the mother's behaviour, the quality of the breast milk and the health of her baby. Consequently, the devotion to nursing which is required from a mother is such that she must dedicate herself to this task. During breastfeeding, how a woman interprets her role is crucial for her infant's growth and, ultimately, affects her perception of how a good mother should be. Also a father must respect the sexual taboos after his son's birth. His misbehaviour is considered potentially even more serious for his baby's life. An indigenous classification of diarrhoeas, their characteristics and treatments are presented. Women's definitions and women's perceptions of the progressive worsening in a baby's health condition are evidence of the multiplicity of casual factors acting alone or in concert within the complexity of the social and cultural context of child care. The paper re-proposes the importance of the knowledge of the cultural and social dimension of diarrhoea in health planning.