Malaria Studies |
Malaria is a major health problem in tropical Africa and the situation is getting worse. The malaria situation in Ghana is typical of tropical African countries. The research involves ethnographic study using qualitative methods and the use of an adapted EMIC interviews to investigate malaria affecting children under 5 years and pregnant women in two ecological zones in Ghana. This study compares population views about malaria with and without convulsions, views held in the general population about malaria effecting pregnant women compared with views and behaviours of the pregnant women themselves. In addition, responses to vignette-based interviews have been compared with case-based experiences of caretakers of children with malaria. The study should clarif the cultural epidemiology of malaria at representative sites in Ghana, and indicate strategies to promote timely preventive and help-seeking behaviour that minimizes illness progression and mortality.
Additional studies of malaria that employ the cultural epidemiological approach and EMIC interviews include a study in urban Abidjan in Cote d'Ivoire on the locally constructed concept of palu (from the French, paludisme, for malaria), and the Access Project, which is a study on access to health services and specific drug treatments for malaria in Tanzania.