[pronut-hiv] African traditional healing practices & their influence on infant feeding in the context of HIV/AIDS

["ProNut-HIV" <pronut-hiv@healthnet.org>]

Crossposting from HIV-infantfeeding/Yahoogroup
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Bangkok abstracts
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African traditional healing practices and their influence on infant
feeding in the context of HIV/AIDS in Watersmeet, Ladysmith, South
Africa 
S V Sikotoyi
University of Natal , Pietermaritzburg, South Africa

Issues:This paper explores the influence of traditional beliefs and
practices performed in Watersmeet and the implications of these on the
lives of vulnerable children in the context of HIV/AIDS. A child in
Watersmeet is not viewed as an individual, but viewed as part of the
community. Traditional beliefs and practices play a vital role in the
upbringing of the child within this community. One of the commonly used
practices in Watersmeet is umfula; Umfula is a mixture of sugar and
boiled water. Most mothers in Watersmeet introduce this as a feed during
the first few days after the child is born. Umfula is not just used for
feeding but it is believed to cleanse the digestive system of a newborn
child. Another widespread practice is that of ukulahlwa inyoni,which is
performed by traditional healers by administering enemas on a child. The
dilemma here is that health care workers discourage the use of umfula,
and other practices performed by most mothers because they believe that
it is not good for the integrity of the child's digestive system, and as
such these conflict with the exclusive feeding policy that they promote.

Description: This qualitative research was conducted among mothers of
infants and pregnant women in Watersmeet, a rural area outside Ladysmith
in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa over a seven month period.

Lessons learned: Even though health care providers devalue traditional
healing practices, these remain meaningful in the decisions mothers make
around child care. 

Recommendations: Traditional healers will continue to play a role in
child care in areas like Watersmeet. As such I recommend that health
care providers rather than ignoring these widespread practices engage in
dicsussion with mothers and traditional healers to create a safe and
appropriate space for child care practices. 

MedGenMed. 2004 Jul 11;6(3):WePeD6451 [eJIAS. 2004 Jul
11;1(1):WePeD6451]


Conference Abstract number: ThPeB7041