The importance of understanding the local context: women's perceptions and knowledge concerning malaria in pregnancy in rural Malawi

Acta Tropica
Annika Launiala, Teija Kulmala

Abstract

A current problem of malaria prevention programmes is that not enough attention is paid to understanding the local socio-cultural context prior to programme implementation. The aim of this study is to discover how Yao women in rural Malawi understand and explain malaria in pregnancy, how they perceive it and what type of knowledge they have on it. Women's knowledge of the adverse effects of malaria in pregnancy is also investigated. At first phase a total of 34 in-depth interviews were conducted. At second phase a KAP survey (n=248) was conducted for cross-validation of the qualitative information. The findings showed that there is neither a vernacular word for malaria nor malaria in pregnancy. Women used a local word, malungo, to refer to malaria. Malungo is an ambiguous disease term because of its multiple meanings which are used interchangeably to refer to many types of feverish illnesses of various causes, not only malaria. Most women did not perceive malungo during pregnancy as a serious illness. There were several other diseases from anaemia, STDs to cholera etc. that were perceived to be more dangerous than malungo. The local meaning of malungo also entailed an assumption that it is a common but fairly harmless illness. ...Continue Reading

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Citations

Jul 31, 2007·Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene·Annika Launiala, Marja-Liisa Honkasalo
Oct 19, 2010·Medical Anthropology Quarterly·Annika Launiala, Marja-Liisa Honkasalo
May 9, 2013·Malaria Journal·Lawrence G FebirSeth Owusu-Agyei
Oct 22, 2008·Tropical Medicine & International Health : TM & IH·Mebrahtom Belay, Wakgari Deressa
Jan 1, 2011·International Quarterly of Community Health Education·Anna L LohinivaNasr El-Sayed
May 23, 2014·Journal of Transcultural Nursing : Official Journal of the Transcultural Nursing Society·Yung-Mei YangYu-Hua Lin
Feb 14, 2020·BMC Public Health·Desmond T JumbamNicole L Achee
Jun 20, 2019·Tropical Medicine & International Health : TM & IH·Machteld van den BergMarcel Tanner
Feb 26, 2019·International Quarterly of Community Health Education·Ediomo-Ubong E Nelson, Ifureuwem J Uko

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