Rural Community Participation Research Articles

Aktualisasi Pemberdayaan Keluarga Dalam Pemberantasan Penyalahgunaan Narkoba

The phenomenon of abuse of narcotics and illegal drugs among the younger generation is currently increasing. The condition of deviant behavior of the younger generation can endanger the survival of our nation's development because they are increasingly fragile and devoured by addictive substances that destroy nerves. Our young generation can no longer think clearly, as a result, the assets of this strong and intelligent nation will only be a memory. The family as a micro community in society has an important role in controlling and eradicating the dangers of drugs. Actualizing the function of the family as a forum for empowerment is one of the pillars that needs to be done and therefore family resilience is the basic foundation of the strength of the sustainability of national development. The Thematic Community Service Program by LPPM UNG in 2021 is oriented to assisting the community in combating drug abuse which is currently rife in society in general. The programs that will be delivered by students will refer to assistance activities to the community to be equally resilient and responsive in eradicating drug abuse. The target of the theme is "Community Empowerment in the Eradication of Drug/Narcotics Abuse to Realize a Shining Village (Drug Clean)". then one of the strategic programs developed is to actualize the function of the family as a forum for empowerment in eradicating drug abuse. It is important to do this because through such a program it will have an effect on increasing public knowledge and being able to innovate in handling and eradicating Drug Abuse and Illegal Drugs in the Village Community. The results of the program's achievements indicate that the actualization of family empowerment through the Thematic KKN program is the participation of families and rural communities to provide support for efforts to eradicate and control drugs which in turn becomes an effective alternative solution on the one hand and as a form of achieving drug-free villages. (Shine) on the other side.

Partisipasi Masyarakat Desa dalam Pembangunan (Studi di Desa Amasara Kecamatan Baito Kabupaten Konawe Selatan)

This study aims to see the participation of rural communities in development in Amasara Village, Baito District, South Konawe Regency. This study uses a qualitative descriptive method through direct interviews with informants. The informants in this study consisted of 8 people consisting of the village head, village secretary, Kaur (Head of Affairs) development and 5 people from the community. The results showed that the village community in development in Amasara Village, Baito District, South Konawe Regency was very involved, which can be seen from the involvement of the Amasara Village community which when starting from development planning through the Musrembang, the Amasara village community was always present and gave opinions related to the development program that was carried out. will be carried out in their village and in the process of implementing development the Amasara village community is always directly involved, for example, during the construction of a farm road, all communities are involved, for example, someone cuts the weeds around the construction of a farm road. However, not only the fathers who were involved but the mothers also participated in the construction by preparing various foods and drinks during the implementation of the construction.

Kontestasi Politik dalam Pemilihan Kepala Desa di Desa Cambai Kecamatan Tulung Selapan Kabupaten OKI Sumatera Selatan Tahun 2021

The political contestation event in the Village Head Election which will be held on October 12, 2021, in Cambai Village, Tulung Selapan District, OKI Regency is a form of government authority for the village to regulate and manage the interests of its community following Law Number 6 of 2014 concerning Villages and strengthened by the PP of the Republic of Indonesia Number 72 of 2005 which involves the participation of rural communities in developing democratic life. The accumulation of capital owned by political contestants in the form of social capital, economic capital and political capital played a very important role in the contestants' success in winning the Cambai Village Head election. conflict and competition during the village head election. Method The research approach used is a descriptive approach Qualitative with the Inductive Sociology method, which is a method that departs from the existing socio-political realities and political events that appear on the surface to be analyzed comprehensively and linked to theories and concepts that have strong relevance. Conclusion: With his social capital strength, Syaipul Mesa managed to win this contest and could beat the political and economic capital ownership of other candidates for the Cambai Village Head, namely Zamharo and Alan Januar. The greater the accumulated capital owned by a candidate, the greater the support they will get from the village community.

Distribution and conservation of vanilla crop wild relatives: the value of local community engagement for biodiversity research

Natural vanilla is a high-value crop with demand increasing globally. Crop wild relatives (CWR) represent valuable agrobiodiversity and are prioritized in the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation. Vanilla species are naturally rare with historically infrequent botanical collections. Despite their importance as CWR, fewer than 10% of Vanilla species have been evaluated for the IUCN Red List. Colombia is a diversity center for Vanilla species, yet many remote regions are lacking detailed floristic characterization. We show that the participation of rural communities in scientific endeavor enhances capacity to register biodiversity. We report two Vanilla species in the under-explored region of the Serranía de las Quinchas in the mid–Magdalena River valley in Colombia, including the first report for Colombia of Vanilla karen-christianae. For this, and the second species, Vanilla dressleri, we present descriptions with photographic botanical illustrations, updated distribution maps, and preliminary conservation status assessment. Both species are of elevated conservation concern, categorized as Endangered – EN: B2a,b(ii,iii,iv,v) following IUCN criteria. Within Colombia, all recorded occurrences for both species fall outside protected areas. Vanilla crop wild relatives in Colombia have urgent conservation needs. The Serranía de las Quinchas is a priority for further botanical exploration for Vanilla, as well as other protected areas with appropriate habitat. In situ conservation should be complemented with ex situ actions. Community participation in biodiversity research is recommended in this and other remote regions as an integral step towards enhancing biodiversity research and community-based conservation.

Exploring environmental measures in disability: Using Google Earth and Street View to conduct remote assessments of access and participation in urban and rural communities.

The Americans with Disabilities Act has been in place since 1990. Yet, we still do not know the actual levels of accessibility in the nation, how access varies across communities or over time, or how it influences participation in community life. The present two studies explored the use of Google Earth (GE) and Google Street View (GSV) imagery as a database for examining the accessibility of rural and urban cities and towns in the United States. We developed procedures for selecting places in a community to observe multiple access features. Study 1 reports the findings from assessments of 25 communities across 17 states. We observed ≈50,000 m (31 miles) of pathways through the observed places. The Combined Access Score (CAS) averaged 65% across these communities. In Study 2, we evaluated 22 towns and cities in a large rural state. We observed ≈77,000 m (48 miles) of pathways through the Central Business Districts observed as core areas connecting people to community life. The CAS averaged 83.9% across these communities. We noted a Rural Access Penalty (RAP), such that rural areas tended to be less accessible, leading to less community participation. The method for using GSV to examine accessibility is discussed. This study demonstrates an inexpensive and reliable method for evaluating the accessibility of communities and participation in them. Future research should be conducted to gather a larger sample of communities in order to create a baseline from which to monitor changes in accessibility of infrastructure over time.

Architecting rural smartness: A collaborative platform design for rural digital business ecosystem

AbstractThe wide urban–rural economic gap, particularly in developing countries, has led to various problems. To lower the gap, the participation of rural communities in digital business ecosystems is being viewed as a promising approach. To this end, we use design science research methodology to present a reference architecture of a rural smartness platform that facilitates the emergence of a smarter business ecosystem. This ecosystem embodies the characteristics of rural smartness, which are empirically proven to have a strong positive impact on improving the rural economic climate. Evaluation by means of expert opinion, technical action research, and empirical research suggest that the proposed architecture effectively improves the rural economic climate and is feasible to be implemented in a real‐world setting. This paper contributes to the body of knowledge regarding the establishment of a digital business ecosystem for rural communities, particularly by proposing a solution resulting from a design science perspective that is backed by empirical evidence.

Facilitating assets-based development in rural communities through service-learning

Abstract By integrating a learning experience with community organizations, service-learning (SL) can be considered a tool to facilitate rural communities’ development, acting as a resource mobilizer. This study presents a participatory process based on the assets-based approach for community development approach. Six local organizations and 16 university students in three Italian rural communities were engaged to assess local resources and co-construct rural SL (RSL) projects. A two-phase rural participative process was developed and evaluated using qualitative instruments, such as focus groups and students’ reflexive journals. Results indicated that rural communities uncovered a set of material and intangible inner assets to develop. Indeed, they identified internal (and potentially external) resources that could effectively bring some insights to rural challenges. Moreover, community members experienced new paths through SL to count on their internal assets through effective collaboration with university students. The collaboration between students (and university) and community organizations delivered new local and rural development opportunities while supporting the partnership for RSL. Students experienced themselves as potential agents of change, enhancing their psychosocial resources and competencies, and strengthening rural development. The result’s implications involve the development of rural policies, including effective participation of rural communities (and organizations) and regarding different dimensions of development, like economic or psychosocial development.

Farmer-led education on the Colombian Andes: Escuelas Campesinas de Agroecología as a social learning approach for post-conflict reconstruction

ABSTRACT In Colombia, nearly six decades of war have devastated the countryside and induced land-related issues that perpetuate marginalization of rural people. Although the Peace Agreement of 2016 and the Integral Rural Reform offer new prospects for resolving legacies of conflict, the reconstruction of the countryside requires participation of rural communities. Social movements advance agroecology as a suitable territorial management approach for enabling the socio-ecological reconstruction of rural areas. Escuelas Campesinas de Agroecología (ECAs) are farmer-led formative initiatives that emerge around productive, market, and political processes aimed at scaling agroecology by developing new knowledge and learning systems. This qualitative study investigates the potentialities of ECAs as a social learning strategy for empowering farmer communities confronting current post-conflict challenges. Through a systematization of experiences, the work of seven ECAs is analyzed in relation to three phenomena – problematization, social networking, and critical thinking. The different pedagogies are then scrutinized based on identity frameworks. Results evidence that the context-specific approaches of ECAs enable communities to integrate diverse epistemological knowledge into collective learning systems and move it to a broader social context through social networks. We conclude that ECAs represent a suitable approach for transforming postwar environments while facilitating the achievement of peacebuilding goals.

A Participatory Systems Approach to Understanding WIC Participation in Rural Native American Communities

ObjectivesParticipation of eligible Native American women and children in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women Infants and Children (WIC) has been declining for over a decade. The objective of this research was to identify the complex system of constraints and facilitators contributing to this decline in WIC enrollment among Native women and children. MethodsIn-person community level engagement was not possible with COVID-19 restrictions, so we developed causal loop diagrams (CLDs) by adapting a novel methodology of participatory system dynamics modeling based on key stakeholder interviews. Semi-structured in-depth interviews (n = 35) were conducted via Zoom or phone with current and former WIC participants, eligible non-participants, WIC staff, tribal/health administrators, and WIC food store vendors. A codebook was developed based on open coding by four different researchers, and interviews were coded by identifying causal relationships and polarity between factors. Kumu software was used to merge interview results, resulting in three CLDs, one per community. CLDs were shared with tribal WIC staff for member checking and additional feedback. ResultsDespite similar enrollment declines across the three communities, the CLDs reveal important differences in systems-level enrollment obstacles to WIC participation. Cross-cutting key themes included the following structural elements: transportation, connectivity, and local policy/protocol barriers. Transportation feedback loops incorporated the accessibility of WIC offices and grocery stores, vehicle sharing practices, and travel times. Connectivity feedback loops incorporated virtual WIC services, re-enrollment certification processing, and generational technology gaps. While similar themes emerged across each community, the degrees to which and pathways through which the variables impacted enrollment varied significantly. ConclusionsThis is one of the first studies to map systems of constraints and facilitators influencing WIC participation in rural Native American communities. The application of systems thinking in this context is an important step towards addressing structural and systems level factors that are more likely to support WIC enrollment in rural Native American communities. Funding SourcesHealthy Eating Research Grant from RWJF #77,235.

Upaya Pemerintah Desa dalam Meningkatkan Kualitas Pelayanan Publik

This study aims to determine the efforts of the village government in improving the quality of public services, especially in the field of population administration at the Panji Kidul Village Office, Situbondo Regency, to find out the supporting factors and also the inhibiting factors of the village government's efforts to improve the quality of public services. The method used in this research is a descriptive research method with a qualitative approach, namely by describing events that occur in the field, data collection will be carried out using interview, observation, and documentation techniques. The results of the study indicate that the village government's efforts to improve the quality of public services in the field of population administration at the Panji Kidul Village Office are by motivating employees related to work discipline, improving the quality and professionalism of employees, improving facilities and infrastructure, the existence of procedures for the order of population administration services, improving performance. government apparatus. In addition, the participation of rural communities in public services is also very helpful in the smooth process of public services. The supporting factors for the village government's efforts to improve the quality of public services in the field of population administration at the Panji Kidul Village Office are community participation, cohesiveness between village government officials, and the determination of service costs. The inhibiting factors are the quality of village government apparatus resources, limited facilities and infrastructure, and undisciplined working conditions.

A Solution for Loneliness in Rural Populations: The Effects of Osekkai Conferences during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Social prescribing is an essential solution to the lack of social connection and interaction and provides a key approach to problems faced by communities during the COVID-19 pandemic. One social prescription used in Japan is the Osekkai conference, which has the potential to increase social participation in rural communities. The revitalization of Osekkai can improve social interactions among people involved in the conference, thereby reducing loneliness. This interventional study was conducted with people who participated in the Osekkai conference. The primary outcomes of the degree of loneliness were compared between 2021 and 2022 using the Japanese version of the three-item UCLA Loneliness Scale. The demographic data and process outcomes of participants were measured using a questionnaire. The participants’ roles in the Osekkai conference increased between the two periods. Loneliness scores tended to decrease during the study period (4.25 to 4.05, p = 0.099). In the questionnaire on loneliness, the scores for item 2 decreased significantly during the study period (1.36 to 1.25, p = 0.038). In conclusion, this study shows that the continual provision of Osekkai conferences as a social prescription may reduce the degree of loneliness among participants with improved social participation in rural communities. Future studies should investigate comparative interventions to show the effectiveness of social prescription on loneliness in communities.

Local municipal capacity for climate change action in New York State: Exploring the urban–rural divide

AbstractClimate change is a critical global issue with profound local impacts. Recent scholarship on local government action to address climate change has primarily focused on cities, with less attention paid to how smaller municipalities and rural communities are tackling the issue. Our research investigates how the capacity of urban and rural municipalities in New York State (NYS) affects their ability to take climate action, utilizing data from a statewide survey, interviews, and secondary data on municipal participation in the NYS Climate Smart Communities program. We investigated how municipal capacity (including individual, management, and broader contextual factors) influences climate change action in rural and urban communities. We find that only a quarter of NYS municipalities have taken climate action, and most are mitigation rather than adaptation actions. There is significantly more climate action and municipal climate network participation in urban versus rural communities. Most local municipal officials believe that climate change is occurring and feel the impacts, yet most are unsure about addressing it at the local level. Climate action is best predicted by individual municipal capacity variables of strong climate beliefs and knowledge, and contextual variables of being in an urban municipality versus a rural one, and participation in climate networks. Key barriers to local climate action include the lack of human, financial, and technical resource capacity. Municipal climate networks can help overcome capacity limitations, particularly for resource‐limited rural communities.

POSITION OF THE TEMPURAN VILLAGE HEAD IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF VILLAGE AUTONOMY

The role of the village head in implementing village-scale local authority as a form of village autonomy according to Law Number 6 of 2014 concerning Villages is the authority to regulate and manage the interests of village communities that have been carried out by the village or are capable and effectively carried out by the village. Authority based on the right of origin and local authority on a village scale is a good opportunity for the village to be able to determine its own destiny in planning, implementing and evaluating development in the village. Villages have a large space to map various village assets and use them as much as possible for the benefit of the village. This study uses an empirical juridical approach. The empirical juridical approach is to conduct research in the field, namely by looking at the existing facts regarding the position of the village head in the application of regional autonomy. The result of this research is that the Head of Tempuran Village, Trimurjo District, Central Lampung Regency conveys the role of the Village Head regarding regional autonomy and village autonomy is very important. Law Number 23 of 2014 concerning Regional Government provides a strong foundation for villages in realizing a “Development Community” where the village is no longer an administrative level or regional subordinate but on the contrary as an “Independent Community”. The village and its community have the right to speak for the interests of the community itself. Villages are given the authority to regulate their villages independently, including in the social, political and economic fields. With this independence, it is hoped that it will increase the participation of rural communities in social and political development.

Rivalitas Suami Istri Dalam Kontestasi Pemilihan Kepala Desa

The election of the Village Head (Pilkades) is a democratic phenomenon that has been a tradition since colonial times (Muis, 2006). As a phenomenon, the journey has been long enough until the reign of Joko Widodo period 2. The practice of democracy, requiring deliberation for consensus, based on the belief in family and gotong royong aimed at welfare that contains religious elements, based on truth, love and noble ethics and upholding the principles of democracy is equality, freedom, and pluralism. This paper aims to look at the background of the contestation of husband and wife in pilkades, its influence on the quality of democracy and the quality of political participation of rural communities. Using qualitative methods through phenomenological approaches and descriptive analysis, the results of the analysis, obtained the results of the analysis, that the opportunity to serve more than 2 times as Village Head in accordance with Law No. 6 of 2014 on Villages and the prohibition of single candidates, as well as the will to rule more than 2 times became the main reason husband and wife conducted a "fake" rivalry. Rivalries that ostensibly promote equality, equality and gender bias, undermine and degrade the value of democracy itself

Study of tourism empowerment in the region el chagüe with a gender perspective

Tourism has reached a wide diffusion around the world, so it has recently brought many developing countries into this market. Rural areas have also joined this process, where local communities share their natural environments with tourists seeking immersive wildlife and nature experiences. In rural areas, community-based tourism allows local people to maintain substantial control over the process. Also, the sustainability of projects is based on the capacity of rural experiences to limit the impacts of tourism activities, ensure central participation and involvement of rural communities, enabling cooperation between public authorities and local stakeholders, focusing on the preservation of ecosystems and on the social empowerment of weak collectives, for example improving the social role, life opportunities and self-esteem of rural women. The present article studies the successful entrepreneurial businesses that rural women of the region El Chagüe can have by taking advantage of the resources that surround them. The research defines a theoretical model that links the existence of natural and social resources in the natural space, with public and private cooperation. Emerging activities in the planning and design of the rural tourism process result in the empowerment of weak collectives in the communities, mainly women, obtaining clear benefits from tourism for the region and improving local living conditions, becoming a truly sustainable dimension to the whole process. Finally, the benefits include the reproduction of community identity, the preservation of social, cultural and natural resources of rural communities in natural areas, the limitation of tourism impacts on local and natural environments, and substantial control over the development process.

Pengembangan Desa Wisata Denai Lama sebagai Salah Satu Objek Wisata di Kabupaten Deli Serdang

Deli Serdang Regency with its capital Lubuk Pakam consists of 22 sub-districts, 14 sub-districts and 380 villages. Law no. 6 of 2014 states that the Villages are very important because they aim to realize community welfare services through improvement, empowerment, and participation of rural communities, as well as increasing regional competitiveness by taking into account the principles of democracy, equity, justice, privilege and specificity of a village regions in the system of the Republic of Indonesia. Tourism Villages will be a way to develop villages and realize community welfare. Denai Lama Tourism Village is one of the tourism villages that has the potential to be developed into a tourist attraction in Deli Serdang Regency. Of the 6 (six) elements needed by Denai Lama Village in the strategy of developing a tourist village, they are quite capable, but there are some things that are still missing and require a mentoring process. Homestay development is still not developed. Homestay is important to be developed so that visiting tourists can stay in the village of Denai Lama so that there will be an increase in the length of stay of tourists in the tourist village of Denai Lama which is an increase in tourist spending (spending power) in the tourist village. The existence of public toilets, facilities and infrastructure, sufficient parking space, markings and directions as well as the CHSE health protocol (Cleanliness, Hygiene, Sanitation, and Environment) are important to note. Cooperatives should be formed by involving the community in order to further develop the village. Another thing that has not been optimally implemented but is no less important to develop Denai Lama Tourism Village, one of the tourist attractions is Branding, Advertising (Ads) and Selling (Sales Mission). Denai Lama Village has branded its village as a Tourism Village with Educational Tourism, but does not yet have a slogan/tagline that tourists can remember. It is necessary to make a slogan/tagline that is in accordance with the characteristics and concepts of the village that you want to form as a characteristic of the tourist village. In terms of advertising the tourist village of Denai Lama must aggressively promote both using print and online media to attract tourists to visit the tourism village. This tourism village promotion can be done using social media such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and if necessary promotions create a village website. And for sales , the tourist village of Denai Lama can take part in events such as tourist exhibitions, bazaars, exhibitions with attractions and tourism products in touristm villages. By carrying out the development strategy above, Denai Lama Tourism Village can become one of the leading tourist attractions in Deli Serdang district, North Sumatra province and even the Indonesian National

Pengembangan Desa Wisata Denai Lama sebagai Salah Satu Objek Wisata di Kabupaten Deli Serdang

Deli Serdang Regency with its capital Lubuk Pakam consists of 22 sub-districts, 14 sub-districts and 380 villages. Law no. 6 of 2014 states that the Villages are very important because they aim to realize community welfare services through improvement, empowerment, and participation of rural communities, as well as increasing regional competitiveness by taking into account the principles of democracy, equity, justice, privilege and specificity of a village regions in the system of the Republic of Indonesia. Tourism Villages will be a way to develop villages and realize community welfare. Denai Lama Tourism Village is one of the tourism villages that has the potential to be developed into a tourist attraction in Deli Serdang Regency. Of the 6 (six) elements needed by Denai Lama Village in the strategy of developing a tourist village, they are quite capable, but there are some things that are still missing and require a mentoring process. Homestay development is still not developed. Homestay is important to be developed so that visiting tourists can stay in the village of Denai Lama so that there will be an increase in the length of stay of tourists in the tourist village of Denai Lama which is an increase in tourist spending (spending power) in the tourist village. The existence of public toilets, facilities and infrastructure, sufficient parking space, markings and directions as well as the CHSE health protocol (Cleanliness, Hygiene, Sanitation, and Environment) are important to note. Cooperatives should be formed by involving the community in order to further develop the village. Another thing that has not been optimally implemented but is no less important to develop Denai Lama Tourism Village, one of the tourist attractions is Branding, Advertising (Ads) and Selling (Sales Mission). Denai Lama Village has branded its village as a Tourism Village with Educational Tourism, but does not yet have a slogan/tagline that tourists can remember. It is necessary to make a slogan/tagline that is in accordance with the characteristics and concepts of the village that you want to form as a characteristic of the tourist village. In terms of advertising the tourist village of Denai Lama must aggressively promote both using print and online media to attract tourists to visit the tourism village. This tourism village promotion can be done using social media such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and if necessary promotions create a village website. And for sales , the tourist village of Denai Lama can take part in events such as tourist exhibitions, bazaars, exhibitions with attractions and tourism products in touristm villages. By carrying out the development strategy above, Denai Lama Tourism Village can become one of the leading tourist attractions in Deli Serdang district, North Sumatra province and even the Indonesian National

Intervention strategy for effective water supply system to rural communities in Vhembe District, South Africa

Consistent access to potable water remains a major challenge among communities in rural areas of Vhembe District Municipality (VDM). This is due to the high frequency of water supply infrastructure breakdown due to obsolete infrastructure and inadequate involvement and participation of rural communities in paying for water and maintenance which affect sustainability of water supply system in VDM. This study assesses current state of water supply, challenges and effectiveness of measures in place in order to propose intervention to improve rural water supply system in VDM. The study followed a mixed method research design, which include both qualitative and quantitative methods. Data was analysed using thematic content analysis and chi-square test. The study established that water is inconsistently supplied in VDM. As about 53.5% of the respondents received water once per week which necessitate intervention to improve the situation. All the respondents from the four local municipalities of Vhembe District were not satisfied with the quantity of water received and distance travelled to collect water. The study recommend intervention strategy which included that local management structure to be established and terms of reference agreed with communities including more water supply sources options to be added

Analysis of Contributing Factors Enhancing Rural Transportation System: A Case Study of South-Eastern Provinces of Vietnam

Background:Under-developed countries like Vietnam are facing sustainability problems in developing transportation infrastructure for rural and remote areas. The lack of financial resources and public support is the causative factor of the problem. Rural community participation is considered crucial to resolving these problems. Even demographics strongly influenced, but how they should interact with community participation is still under study in the South-eastern provinces of Vietnam.Methods:South-eastern provinces of Vietnam, including HoChiMinh City and BaRia-VungTau, BinhDuong, BinhPhuoc, DongNai and TayNinh provinces, were selected for the study due to the high requirement of rural transportation infrastructure in these provinces. Questionnaires were sent to local households for data collection. Data analysis was conducted descriptively with the model of logistic regression.Results:Community participation is identified as contributions in terms of finance, labor, material, and land. Household composition, education, income, and a member in the household as a community leader are among the chief contributing factors to community participation.Conclusion:The study can be beneficial for policymakers and local governors in planning and predicting local rural development programs. It aims to enhance rural community participation and increase rural transportation infrastructure in the South-eastern provinces of Vietnam.

"Satanism is witchcraft's younger sibling": Changing perceptions of natural and supernatural anaemia causality in Malawian children.

In countries of sub-Saharan Africa, many children are admitted to hospital with severe forms of anaemia. The late hospital admissions of anaemic children contribute significantly to child morbidity and mortality in these countries. This qualitative study explores local health beliefs and traditional treatment practices that may hinder timely seeking of hospital care for anaemic children. In January of 2019, nine focus group discussions were conducted with 90 participants in rural communities of Malawi. The participants represented four groups of caregivers; mothers, fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers of children under the age of five. The Malawian medical landscape is comprised of formal and informal therapeutic alternatives-and this myriad of modalities is likely to complicate the healthcare choices of caregivers. When dealing with child illness, many participants reported how they would follow a step-by-step, 'multi-try' therapeutic pathway where a combination of biomedical and traditional treatment options were sought at varying time points depending on the perceived cause and severity of symptoms. The participants linked anaemia to naturalistic (malaria, poor nutrition and the local illnesses kakozi and kapamba), societal (the local illness msempho) and supernatural or personalistic (witchcraft and Satanism) causes. Most participants agreed that anaemia due to malaria and poor nutrition should be treated at hospital. As for local illnesses, many grandparents suggested herbal treatment offered by traditional healers, while the majority of parents would opt for hospital care. However, participants across all age groups claimed that anaemia caused by witchcraft and Satanism could only be dealt with by traditional healers or prayer, respectively. The multiple theories of anaemia causality combined with extensive use of and trust in traditional and complementary medicine may explain the frequent delay in admittance of anaemic children to hospital.