Traditional beliefs and practices related to childhood diarrhoeal disease in a high-density suburb of Maputo

ABSTRACT

A study of beliefs and practices relating to childhood diarrhoea; relying both on traditional healers as informants and mothers as survey respondents in a high-density suburb of Maputo; revealed an indigenous classification of childhood diarrhoea into four main types. Results of the interviews show that the more serious types of diarrhoeal disorder are not seen as infectious diseases. Instead; they are placed within the framework of the hot-cold dichotomy one type of diarrhoea is believed to be caused by invasion of the body by hot air; whereas two other categories are regarded as stemming from the heat of ritual pollution associated with death and morally unsanctioned behaviour. Ritual disorders are ritually dealt with recourse to symbolic medicines. The study suggests that health education campaigns need to incorporate illnesses recognized by traditional medicine; while research is needed more into indigenous systems of symbolic logic than into medicinal plants if oral rehydration is to be improved