12 research outputs found
"De nos jours, chacun fait ce qu'il veut"? : dynamiques des relations sociales et pratiques sexuelles dans le contexte du VIH/sida à Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
No full textSUMMARY
Although West Africa shows remarkably low prevalence, AIDS remains a burning issue for the population of Ouagadougou. The capital of Burkina Faso has the highest rates in the country with an HIV prevalence in 2010 of 2.1% among adults aged 15-49, compared to 1% at the national level (UNAIDS 2012:19).
Indeed, AIDS is a disease that many people associate with socially unacceptable and condemnable sexual behavior. This study aims to better understand and contextualize the dynamics of social relations and sexual practices in Ouagadougou, with a particular focus on adolescent girls and boys.
"This research was conducted among residents of a peri-urban and disadvantaged area of the city, the secteur 29, with a population, accrued from rural exodus in recent decades, which is diverse in terms of ethnic, social and religious origin. Focus group discussions and in-depth interviews were conducted with men and women of three classificatory generations: ""children"", ""parents"" and ""grandparents"". For a more robust triangulation, additional qualitative data were collected through interviews with religious leaders, representatives of the traditional and the biomedical health systems and representatives of NGOs working in the field of AIDS, as well as monitoring popular media including newspapers and television and radio broadcasts and, finally, observation and participation in the social life of secteur 29. "
Sexual practices are activities shaped by the cultural and social context and are thus subject to social change and negotiations of position between different groups within a community. They reflect the power relations between and within generational and gender groups which drive social relations. In Ouagadougou, different types of relationships and a variety of discourses and practices of sexuality coexist. We observed a marked difference between the generations of grandparents and children.
The grandparent generation compares relational and sexual practices of young people growing up today in the city with customary cultural institutions that were once used to control teenage premarital sexuality and to forge matrimonial alliances between different lineages. Old women and men complain about the weakening of these institutions, with most of them attributing the spread of HIV to the decline of family control. They mainly blame the girls.
Young people react against these societal discourses and present a different image of their own practices. These are more complex and dynamic than those represented by the older generation. Girls are uncertain and ambiguous with respect to their sexuality. The polyphonic information they receive poses a dilemma for them on whether to be sexually active or abstinent. In addition to positive images of sexuality, they also represent different risks – in addition to an unplanned pregnancy or infection with STIs or HIV: sexual abstinence could make them sick or infertile, masturbation necessarily leads to uncontrollable sexual urges and infidelity, the onset of sexual activity is recommended only when the body is fully developed, and finally, infidelity is due to masturbation, early sexual initiation or economic needs. The girls complained strongly about being addressed by men of the neighborhood for transactional sex or by teachers for ‘gratificational’ sex. In general, girls have only fragmented information on sexuality and hence construct 'creative' representations and have a diversity of practices resulting from their context coined by multiple and divergent values and a lack of orientation that leaves them ambiguous.
According to both young men and women, their relational and sexual practices are diverse and span a wide range from abstinence to multiple and concurrent relationships. Abstinence, one of the poles of this range, holds a high social value for young people, especially for girls. The other pole of this range, multiple partnerships, does not necessarily imply sex with all, or even with any, partners. In general, young people are not all sexually (over)active as imagined by the older generation. They rather practice a variety of forms of relationships and combinations of them that do not all necessarily involve sexual activity. Young people perceive their adolescence and their relational and sexual practices as an expression of their current life stage before marriage allowing them things they value as unacceptable in their future live as socially respected wives and husbands.
For actors in public health, use of condoms by sexually active people is a crucial element of the combined HIV prevention programs. However, like all technologies, a condom is not viewed in any community as a neutral and value-free object. It actually enters a social context impregnated by a multitude of ideas covering a variety of topics. In Ouagadougou, condom related representations are historical, macro-political, economic, religious, social, sanitary or symbolic. All these aspects affect the appropriation or reluctance, as well as its management. In addition, the burkinabè population perceives negative social and moral consequences with the use of condoms. Those are depreciated on two levels: the devaluation of sexuality, valued as trivial, vulgar and ordinary, and the degradation of basic relational values, through infidelity, adultery, multiple partnerships and the emphasis of sexual pleasure instead of procreation.
Our results contradict the reductionist views on African sexuality and promiscuity and give visibility to the current moral debates across and within generational and gender groups. An understanding of these debates can help to better target culturally sensitive public health efforts in the field of family planning and prevention of sexually transmitted diseases and HIV.
To this end, we recommend three activities of application of our results. At the local level, on the one hand, the establishment of discussion forums on sexual and reproductive health for young people, as well as intergenerational forums with girls and boys, with mothers and fathers, on the other hand, would both help to address the lack of accurate information for youth and to initiate communication between parents and children on aspects of education and sexual health. At the national level, we propose the initiation of a community dialogue to counter and weaken representations impeding the use of condoms.
"For research, we suggest four new avenues. Firstly, it is important to examine the possibility of transactional sex between young boys and ""sugar mummies"", or between boys and men, both as sources of revenue for the boys. It would be additionally interesting to see whether new forms of more egalitarian relationships are beginning to develop in Ouagadougou between well-educated and well-off young men and women, involving pleasurable and mutually satisfactory sexuality. Undoubtedly, basic research on lifestyles, social networks and homosexual culture of men who have sex with men and women who have sex with women is also important. Finally, elucidating the differences, on the one hand among believers between religious commands and actual practices, and on the other hand among the representatives of the different religious communities between their preaching and their activities, possibly deviant from official doctrines, would help to better understand the dilemmas of the two religious actors, both believers as well as religious leaders, and to reinforce good practices related to HIV prevention and AIDS. These research avenues could contribute to the development of new culturally appropriate interventions for prevention and sensitization based on the lived experiences of people and on empirical results. " ---------- ZUSAMMENFASSUNG:
Obwohl Westafrika bemerkenswert niedrige Prävalenzraten aufweist, ist AIDS ein Thema, bei dem in der Bevölkerung von Ouagadougou große Besorgnis zum Ausdruck kommt. Die Hauptstadt von Burkina Faso verzeichnet für das Jahr 2010 landesweit die höchste HIV-Prävalenz von 2,1% bei den Erwachsenen im Alter von 15-49 Jahren. Der Landesdurchschnitt liegt im Vergleich dazu bei 1% (UNAIDS 2012:19).
AIDS ist eine Krankheit, die viele Menschen mit verwerflichem und sozial zu verurteilendem Sexualverhalten verbinden. Diese Studie zielt darauf ab, die Dynamiken sozialer Beziehungen und sexueller Praktiken in Ouagadougou besser zu verstehen und zu kontextualisieren. Ein besonderer Fokus wird dabei auf jugendliche Frauen und Männer gerichtet.
"Die Forschung wurde in einem benachteiligten Viertel am Standrand von Ouagadougou durchgeführt, dem secteur 29, dessen Bewohner·innen in den letzten Jahrzehnten aufgrund der Landflucht zuzogen, und das ethnische, sozial und religiös durchmischt ist. Die Daten wurden in Fokusgruppendiskussionen und Tiefeninterviews mit Männern und Frauen dreier klassifikatorischer Generationen erhoben: den ""Kinder"", ""Eltern"" und ""Großeltern"". Um eine umfassendere Triangulation zu gewährleisten, wurden zusätzliche qualitative Daten gesammelt durch Interviews mit religiösen Führern, mit Vertreter·inne·n des traditionellen und des biomedizinischen Gesundheitssystems und Verantwortlichen von AIDS-NGOs. Darüber hinaus wurden die öffentlichen Medien, einschließlich Zeitungen und Fernseh- und Radiosendungen, zum Thema AIDS verfolgt und schließlich habe ich das soziale Leben im secteur 29 beobachtet und daran teilgenommen."
Sexuelle Praktiken sind durch den kulturellen und sozialen Kontext geprägt und unterliegen daher dem sozialen Wandel und dem Aushandeln verschiedener Positionen zwischen verschiedenen Gruppen innerhalb einer Gemeinschaft. Sie spiegeln Machtverhältnisse zwischen und innerhalb von Generationen- und Geschlechtergruppen wider, die soziale Beziehungen prägen. In Ouagadougou koexistieren verschiedene Arten von Beziehungen und eine Vielzahl von Diskursen über und Praktiken von Sexualität. Zwischen den Generationen der Großeltern und der Kinder ist zu diesem Thema ein gespanntes Verhältnis zu beobachten.
Die Generation der Großeltern vergleicht die Beziehungen und sexuellen Praktiken der Jugendlichen, die heute in der Stadt aufwachsen, mit den herkömmlichen kulturellen Institutionen, die einst dazu dienten, die voreheliche Sexualität der jungen Menschen zu kontrollieren und durch arrangierte Ehen Allianzen zwischen verschiedenen Lineages zu schmieden. Alte Frauen und Männer beschweren sich über die Schwächung dieser Institutionen und die meisten von ihnen schreiben die Ausbreitung von HIV dem Niedergang der familiären Kontrolle zu und weisen hauptsächlich den jungen Frauen die Schuld dafür zu.
"Die Jugendlichen reagieren auf diese gesellschaftlichen Diskurse und präsentieren ein anderes Bild der eigenen Praktiken. Diese sind komplexer und dynamischer als die von der älteren Generation dargestellten. Mädchen sind unentschlossen und verunsichert in Bezug auf den Umgang mit ihrer Sexualität. Die polyphonen Informationen, die sie zum Thema Sexualität erhalten, führen für sie zum Dilemma darüber, ob sie sexuell aktiv oder abstinent sein sollen. Neben positiven Bildern von Sexualität, stellen sie sich auch verschiedene Risiken vor – zusätzlich zu ungeplanten Schwangerschaften oder der Ansteckung mit einer Geschlechtskrankheit oder HIV: sexuelle Enthaltsamkeit könne krank oder unfruchtbar machen; Masturbation führe zwangsläufig zu unkontrollierbarem sexuellen Drang und zu Untreue; der Beginn der sexuellen Aktivität sei erst empfohlen, wenn der Körper voll entwickelt ist; und sexuelle Untreue gründe auf Masturbation, zu frühem Beginn der sexuellen Aktivität oder auf wirtschaftlicher Notwendigkeit. Die jungen Frauen beklagen sich, angegangen zu werden für Sex gegen Geld von Männern aus der Nachbarschaft oder zu Sex gegen gute Noten von Lehrern. Im Allgemeinen haben die Mädchen nur bruchstückhafte Informationen über die Sexualität, konstruieren daraus kreative Vorstellungen darüber und haben eine Vielzahl von Praktiken, die aus dem mehrdeutigen Kontext unterschiedlicher Werte und einem Mangel an Orientierung herrühren und sie ambivalent zurück lässt."
Laut den Aussagen der jungen Männern und Frauen sind ihre Beziehungsformen und sexuellen Praktiken vielfältig und umfassen einen weiten Bereich, der von Abstinenz zu mehrfachen und gleichzeitigen Beziehungen reicht. Abstinenz, auf der einen Seite dieser Spannbreite, hat für die jungen Menschen einen hohen sozialen Wert, insbesondere für Mädchen. Die Mehrfachbeziehungen, auf der andere Seite dieser Spannbreite, bedeuten nicht zwangsläufig überhaupt oder mit allen Partner·inne·n Sex zu haben. Im Allgemeinen schildern sich die jungen Menschen nicht als sexuell (hyper-)aktiv, wie es sich die ältere Generation vorstellt. Sie leben eine Vielzahl von Formen und Kombinationen von Beziehungen, die nicht unbedingt eine sexuelle Aktivität beinhalten. Junge Menschen werten ihre Beziehungen und sexuellen Praktiken als einen Ausdruck ihrer aktuellen adoleszenten, vorehelichen Lebensphase. Sie bewerten ihr derzeitiges Verhalten als zukünftig inakzeptabel, wenn sie als respektable Ehefrauen und Ehemänner angesehen werden wollen.
Für Akteure und Akteurinnen der öffentlichen Gesundheit stellt die Verwendung von Kondomen von sexuell aktiven Menschen ein entscheidendes Element der kombinierten HIV-Präventionsprogramme dar. Doch wie bei allen Technologien wird auch das Kondom in einer Gemeinschaft nicht als ein neutraler und wertfreier Gegenstand gesehen. Es trifft vielmehr auf einen gesellschaftlich geprägten Kontext von Vorstellungen zu unterschiedlichen Themenfeldern. Die in Ouagadougou mit dem Kondom verknüpften Vorstellungen stehen in einem historischen, makro-politischen, wirtschaftlichen, religiösen, sozialen, gesundheitlichen und symbolischen Zusammenhang. All diese Aspekte beeinflussen die Aneignung des oder Vorbehalte gegen das Kondom und den Umgang damit. Zudem beurteilt die Bevölkerung von Ouagadougou den Gebrauch der Kondome negativ in Bezug auf die Wahrnehmung von sozialen und moralischen Folgen. Diese stellt sie auf zwei Ebenen fest: der Abwertung und Banalisierung der Sexualität sowie dem Niedergang grundlegender Werte in Beziehungen, wie Untreue, Ehebruch, Mehrfachpartnerschaften und der Betonung von sexueller Lust statt der Fortpflanzung.
Die Ergebnisse der vorliegenden Studie widersprechen den reduktionistischen Ansichten über afrikanische Sexualität und Promiskuität und machen aktuelle moralische Debatten zwischen und innerhalb Generationen- und Geschlechtergruppen sichtbar. Ein Verständnis dieser Auseinandersetzungen kann dazu beitragen, kulturell angepasste Interventionen im Bereich Familienplanung und Prävention von sexuell übertragbaren Krankheiten und von HIV zu stärken.
Zu diesem Zweck werden drei Möglichkeiten der praktischen Umsetzung der Resultate vorgeschlagen. Auf lokaler Ebene würden einerseits die Einrichtung von Diskussionsforen zu sexueller und reproduktiver Gesundheit für junge Menschen und andererseits Plattformen des intergenerationellen Austausches zwischen Mitgliedern der Kinder- und der Elterngeneration helfen, den Mangel an sicheren Informationen für Jugendliche zu lindern und die Kommunikation zwischen Eltern und Kindern zu Aspekten der Sexualität zu ermöglichen. Auf nationaler Ebene würde ein Dialog mit und innerhalb der Gesellschaft dazu beitragen, den verschiedenen Vorstellungen, die für den Kondomgebrauch hinderlich sind, zu begegnen und diese zu mindern.
Aufgrund der Ergebnisse der vorliegenden Studie schlagen wir zudem vier Forschungsbereiche um AIDS und Sexualität vor: Zunächst wäre es wichtig, mögliche sexuelle Beziehungen mit „sugar mummies“ oder mit anderen Männern als Einnahmequelle für jugendliche Männer zu untersuchen. Es wäre interessant zu sehen, ob sich auch in Ouagadougou Formen egalitärerer Beziehungen zwischen gebildeten und gut verdienenden jungen Männern und Frauen entwickeln, in den eine lustvolle und beidseits befriedigende Sexualität gelebt wird. Zweifellos ist Grundlagenforschung wichtig zu den Lebensformen, den sozialen Netzen und der homosexuellen Kultur von Männern, die Sex mit Männern und von Frauen, die Sex mit Frauen haben. Schließlich sollten die verschiedenen religiösen Gemeinschaften untersucht werden, insbesondere die Unterschiede, einerseits der religiösen Gebote im Gegensatz zu den aktuellen Praktiken der Gläubigen, und andererseits der Aussagen im Gegensatz zu den tatsächlichen, von den offiziellen Doktrinen abweichenden, Handlungsweisen der Führerinnen und Führer dieser verschiedenen religiösen Gemeinschaften. Aus den Ergebnissen könnten Best Practices im Zusammenhang mit der Prävention von HIV und mit AIDS entwickelt und diese dadurch verstärkt werden. Diese neuen Forschungsausrichtungen könnten die Entwicklung neuer, kulturell angemessener Leitlinien für Präventions- und Sensibilisierungskampagnen unterstützen, die auf den Lebenswirklichkeiten der lokalen Bevölkerung sowie auf empirischen Ergebnissen gründen
Magia y modernidad. Dimensión Antropológica Vol. 63 Año 22 (2015) enero-abril
No full textBailey, Michael D., “The Meanings of Magic”, en Magic, Ritual and Witchcraft, vol. 1, núm. 1, 2006, pp. 1-23.Bogdan, Henrik, “Introduction: Modern Western Magic”, en Aries, vol. 12, 2012, pp. 1-16.Bremmer, Jan N. y Jan R. Veenstra, “Introduction: The Metamorphosis of Magic”, en Jan N. Bremmer y Jan R. Veenstra (eds.), The Metamorphosis of Magic from Antiquity to the Early Modern Period, Lovaina/París, Peeters, 2002, pp. ix-xiv.Brow, James, Demons and Development: The Struggle for Community in a Sri Lankan Village, Tucson, University of Arizona Press, 1996.Comaroff, Jean y John Comaroff (eds.), Modernity and its Malcontents: Ritual and Power in Postcolonial Africa, Chicago, The University of Chicago Press, 1993.Coronil, Fernando, El Estado mágico: naturaleza, dinero y modernidad en Venezuela, Caracas, Nueva Sociedad, 2002.Crain, Mary, “Poetics and Politics in the Ecuadorian Andes: Women’s Narratives of Death and Devil Possession”, en American Ethnologist, vol. 18, núm. 2, 1991, pp. 67-89.Díaz Cruz, Rodrigo, “Ritos mágicos, carabelas, computadoras personales: antropología y tecnología”, en Nueva Antropología, vol. XIV, núm. 47, marzo, 1995, pp. 23-39.Evans-Pritchard, Edward E., Brujería, magia y oráculos entre los Azande, Barcelona, Anagrama, 1976.Frazer, James G., La rama dorada, México, FCE, 1944.Gordillo, Gastón, Landscapes of Devils: Tensions of Place and Memory in the Argentinean Chaco, Durham, Duke University Press, 2004.Greenwood, Susan, The Nature of Magic: An Anthropology of Consciousness, Nueva York, Berg Publishers, 2005.Johnson, Anne W., Diablos, insurgentes e indios: poética y política de la historia en el Norte de Guerrero, México, INAH (en prensa).Latour, Bruno, Nunca fuimos modernos: ensayo de antropología simétrica, México, Siglo XXI, 2007.____________, The Pasteurization of France (trad. de Alan Sheridan y John Law), Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1988.Limón, José, Dancing with the Devil: Society and Cultural Poetics in Mexican- American South Texas, Austin, University of Texas Press, 1994.Lévi-Strauss, Claude, El pensamiento salvaje, México, FCE, 1964.Malinowski, Bronislaw, Magia, ciencia y religión, Barcelona, Ariel, 1994.Mauss, Marcel, “Esbozo de una teoría general de la magia”, en Sociología y antropología, Madrid, Tecnos, 1979, pp. 43-150.Moore, Henrietta L. y Todd Sanders (eds.), Magical Interpretations, Material Realities: Modernity, Witchcraft and the Occult in Postcolonial Africa, Londres, Routledge, 2001.Nash, June, We Eat the Mines and the Mines Eat Us, Nueva York, Columbia University Press, 1979.Nugent, Daniel, “From Devil Pacts to Drug Deals: Commerce, Unnatural Accumulation, and Moral Community in ‘Modern’ Peru”, en American Ethnologist, vol. 23, núm. 2, 1996, pp. 258-290.Ong, Aihwa, Spirits of Resistance and Capitalist Discipline: Factory Women in Malaysia, Albany, suny Press, 1987.Pederson, Morten Axel, Not Quite Shamans: Spirit Worlds and Political Lives in Northern Mongolia, Ítaca, Cornell University Press, 2011.Pels, Peter, “Introduction: Magic and Modernity”, en Brigit Meyer y Peter Pels (eds.), Magic and Modernity, Interfaces of Revelation and Concealment, 2003, pp. 1-38.Radford, Benjamin, “Is there a Ghost Lurking in a Factory Toilet”, en Livescience, 21 junio de 2013; en línea [www.livescience.com]Romberg, Raquel, Witchcraft and Welfare, Austin, University of Texas Press, 2003.Styers, Randall G., Making Magic: Religion, Magic and Science in the Modern World, Nueva York, Oxford University Press, 2004.Tambiah, Stanley J., Magic, Science, Religion, and the Scope of Rationality, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1990.Taussig, Michael, The Devil and Commodity Fetishism in South America, Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press, 1980.____________, The Magic of the State, Nueva York, Routledge, 1997.Tylor, Edward B., Cultura primitiva, t. I, Los orígenes de la cultura, Madrid, Ayuso, 1977.Weismantel, Mary J., Cholas and Pishtacos: Stories of Race and Sex in the Andes, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 2001.Whitehead, Neil L. y Sverker Finnström (eds.), Virtual War and Magical Death: Technologies and Imaginaries for Terror and Killing, Durham, Duke University Press, 2013.Los autores de los ensayos de este número temático sobre magia y modernidad retoman varios de los ejes de análisis arriba mencionados: la magia como fundamento del pensamiento humano, la construcción de la modernidad sobre y en contra de la magia, la transformación de prácticas mágicas en respuesta a la experiencia de vivir en el mundo moderno, y el despliegue de técnicas mágicas de parte de las instituciones modernas mismas
Timing of antenatal care for adolescent and adult pregnant women in south-eastern Tanzania.
No full textEarly and frequent antenatal care attendance during pregnancy is important to identify and mitigate risk factors in pregnancy and to encourage women to have a skilled attendant at childbirth. However, many pregnant women in sub-Saharan Africa start antenatal care attendance late, particularly adolescent pregnant women. Therefore they do not fully benefit from its preventive and curative services. This study assesses the timing of adult and adolescent pregnant women's first antenatal care visit and identifies factors influencing early and late attendance.\ud
The study was conducted in the Ulanga and Kilombero rural Demographic Surveillance area in south-eastern Tanzania in 2008. Qualitative exploratory studies informed the design of a structured questionnaire. A total of 440 women who attended antenatal care participated in exit interviews. Socio-demographic, social, perception- and service related factors were analysed for associations with timing of antenatal care initiation using regression analysis. The majority of pregnant women initiated antenatal care attendance with an average of 5 gestational months. Belonging to the Sukuma ethnic group compared to other ethnic groups such as the Pogoro, Mhehe, Mgindo and others, perceived poor quality of care, late recognition of pregnancy and not being supported by the husband or partner were identified as factors associated with a later antenatal care enrolment (p < 0.05). Primiparity and previous experience of a miscarriage or stillbirth were associated with an earlier antenatal care attendance (p < 0.05). Adolescent pregnant women started antenatal care no later than adult pregnant women despite being more likely to be single. Factors including poor quality of care, lack of awareness about the health benefit of antenatal care, late recognition of pregnancy, and social and economic factors may influence timing of antenatal care. Community-based interventions are needed that involve men, and need to be combined with interventions that target improving the quality, content and outreach of antenatal care services to enhance early antenatal care enrolment among pregnant women
Improvements in access to malaria treatment in Tanzania following community, retail sector and health facility interventions -- a user perspective.
No full textBACKGROUND\ud
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The ACCESS programme aims at understanding and improving access to prompt and effective malaria treatment. Between 2004 and 2008 the programme implemented a social marketing campaign for improved treatment-seeking. To improve access to treatment in the private retail sector a new class of outlets known as accredited drug dispensing outlets (ADDO) was created in Tanzania in 2006. Tanzania changed its first-line treatment for malaria from sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) to artemether-lumefantrine (ALu) in 2007 and subsidized ALu was made available in both health facilities and ADDOs. The effect of these interventions on understanding and treatment of malaria was studied in rural Tanzania. The data also enabled an investigation of the determinants of access to treatment.\ud
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METHODS\ud
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Three treatment-seeking surveys were conducted in 2004, 2006 and 2008 in the rural areas of the Ifakara demographic surveillance system (DSS) and in Ifakara town. Each survey included approximately 150 people who had suffered a fever case in the previous 14 days.\ud
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RESULTS\ud
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Treatment-seeking and awareness of malaria was already high at baseline, but various improvements were seen between 2004 and 2008, namely: better understanding causes of malaria (from 62% to 84%); an increase in health facility attendance as first treatment option for patients older than five years (27% to 52%); higher treatment coverage with anti-malarials (86% to 96%) and more timely use of anti-malarials (80% to 93-97% treatments taken within 24 hrs). Unfortunately, the change of treatment policy led to a low availability of ALu in the private sector and, therefore, to a drop in the proportion of patients taking a recommended malaria treatment (85% to 53%). The availability of outlets (health facilities or drug shops) is the most important determinant of whether patients receive prompt and effective treatment, whereas affordability and accessibility contribute to a lesser extent.\ud
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CONCLUSIONS\ud
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An integrated approach aimed at improving understanding and treatment of malaria has led to tangible improvements in terms of people's actions for the treatment of malaria. However, progress was hindered by the low availability of the first-line treatment after the switch to ACT
Young people in self-care: behaviours and experiences in farming households in Kilombero Valley, Tanzania
No full textAbstract
Little previous research has been carried out on children’s experiences of taking care of themselves in rural Sub-Saharan Africa due to livelihood demands on parents. The aim of this study was to explore the impact of self-care on the health and well-being of school-aged children who are left unsupervised for several months while their parents are away from the home village to undertake farming activities. The study is situated in the Kilombero Valley in south-eastern Tanzania where parents commonly migrate to distant fields during the farming season. Long distance between villages and farms as well as poverty related reasons are relevant factors in the decision of parents to leave school-aged children behind in the village in order to attend school while they stay at the family farm. A range of qualitative methods including focus group discussions and group exercises (diagramming and timelines), semi-structured in-depth interviews, participant observation and informal interviews were used to collect data in this study. The findings uncovered a range of risky behaviours among school-aged children which are experienced through, and inter-related with, a number of coping strategies. Risky behaviours include sexual activities, delay in health treatment seeking, non-use of mosquito bed nets, missing school classes and meals, and playing outside after dark. Coping strategies such as engaging in sex for food, paid labour and group sleeping are not really adopted through choice but are forced on children as a result of the inter-related nature of poverty, endemic environmental illness and adult household responsibilities. Although self-care arrangements have a number of negative implications for children’s health, well-being and education outcomes little has being done to address these issues at the family level, in schools in the community more generally
Firm innovations from voluntary dyadic engagement with nonprofit organisations: an exploratory UK study
No full textThis dissertation presents the findings of an exploratory collective case-study examining
corporate innovations arising from voluntary dyadic engagement between UK firms and
nonprofit organisations (NPOs) focused on social issues.
Whilst the extant literature demonstrates that pro-active engagement with NPOs can
assist firms innovate, there has been no empirical work which explores the relationship
between the engagement and the innovation outcome: a gap which this research
addresses. In doing so, it illustrates how concepts and constructs from the innovation
management literature can be applied usefully to the stakeholder and cross-sector
collaboration field. To date, empirical studies addressing firm-NPO engagements have
concentrated overwhelmingly on partnerships to address environmental issues. This
study provides insights into cross-sector engagements focused on addressing social
issues.
Using a form of analytic induction to evaluate qualitative case-data from ten dyadic
engagements, this dissertation addresses the question: “how do firms innovate through
engagement with social issues nonprofit organisations?” The research found that
product and service innovations resulted from engagements where the firm had an
external stakeholder orientation and was focused on delivering tangible demonstrations
of corporate responsibility. Process innovations, by contrast, were produced from
engagements where firms had an internal stakeholder orientation. Two distinctions
were noted in the innovation process, too. Firstly, a more exploratory approach to
dyadic engagement activities, which resulted in an emergent innovation process; and
secondly, a focused and pre-determined search activity to exploit the resources of the
nonprofit partner which demonstrated a more planned innovation process. In addition,
two distinct boundary spanning roles were identified: in dyads with no direct
management involvement in the engagement, the role was associated with formal
responsibilities from senior management to „manage‟ innovation opportunities and
outcomes. In dyads where senior management were involved, there was no such
formality; the boundary spanner acted to „facilitate‟ search and exploration to locate
opportunities for innovation through idea exchange.
The application of innovation constructs to the business and society field has enabled
firm engagement with nonprofit stakeholders to be examined through a new lens and
demonstrated how firms innovate from such relationships. In particular it has
highlighted the key role played by the firm boundary spanner (relationship manager)
and how this role alters depending on senior management involvement: a distinction
which has not been made in the extant literature and would benefit from further
examination
