Insights from community-based research on child pneumonia in Pakistan

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2150996
AutoresDorothy S Mull (autor de correspondencia), J Dennis Mull (The University of Texas at El Paso)
Año1993
Volumen15
Número4
Páginas335-352
Fecha de publicación1993-12-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaMedical Anthropology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0145-9740 • E-ISSN: 1545-5882
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/01459740.1994.9966098
PMID8041234
OpenAlexW2069622928
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas10
Referencias citadas17

Although pneumonia is a major cause of death in Pakistan, little is known about community beliefs and practices surrounding the disease. In this study, 35 mothers and four self-trained allopathic practitioners were interviewed in Karachi squatter settlements and rural Punjab. The findings indicate that maternal ideas about chest anatomy and the cause of pneumonia (principally "coldness") are very different from biomedical concepts. Further, mothers judge fast breathing impressionistically and tend to attribute it to fever alone. Nevertheless, they know that it is abnormal and most also link chest indrawing with pneumonia. Only mothers lacking other options take their children to government health facilities. Instead, most turn to private (frequently unlicensed) practitioners, although observation shows that such individuals are unable to diagnose pneumonia correctly and that they build their practices around the indiscriminate use of antibiotics. The study demonstrates that the target of ARI education in Pakistan should extend beyond government doctors to mothers and private practitioners as well

Economic growth · Economics · Environmental health · Geography · Pneumonia · Political science · Sociology · Child Nutrition and Water Access · Emergency and Acute Care Studies · Medicine · Pneumonia and Respiratory Infections