IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v73y2011i8p1266-1274.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Maternal health and knowledge and infant health outcomes in the Ariaal people of northern Kenya

Author

Listed:
  • Miller, Elizabeth M.

Abstract

There is a strong link between maternal knowledge and child well-being in many populations worldwide. Fewer studies have investigated the links between indigenous systems of medical knowledge and infant outcomes in non-Western societies, such as the Ariaal people of northern Kenya. This study has four goals. First, it defines culture-specific domains of health knowledge in Ariaal mothers using the cultural consensus method, a statistical model that measures knowledge shared by a set of informants. Second, it identifies factors that predict maternal health knowledge. Third, it investigates associations between maternal health knowledge and treatment-seeking behaviors. Finally, it associates health knowledge with biomarkers of infant health. Data collection took place in two separate periods. The first data collection period (October–November 2007) enrolled 41 women to participate in an open-ended interview or true-false consensus questionnaire. The second data collection period (November 2008–January 2009) used information from the cultural consensus analysis to assess how health knowledge impacted infant health outcomes and treatment. Women and infants in this data collection period (n = 251 pairs) underwent anthropometric measurement and participated in a questionnaire that included traditional medicine consensus questions. Data were analyzed using the cultural consensus capabilities in ANTHROPAC 4.98; univariate and multivariate statistics were performed in SAS 9.2. This study found consensus in the domains of infant illness, traditional medicine, Western medicine, and treatment decision-making. Proximity to a medical dispensary and use of public health infrastructure significantly predicted higher levels of maternal health knowledge. Mothers’ knowledge of traditional medicine was positively associated with treating infants at a dispensary versus at home. Finally, women with greater knowledge of traditional medicine had infants who were significantly less likely to have been ill in the previous month. These results highlight the importance of both traditional and Western health knowledge for Ariaal mothers and infants.

Suggested Citation

  • Miller, Elizabeth M., 2011. "Maternal health and knowledge and infant health outcomes in the Ariaal people of northern Kenya," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 73(8), pages 1266-1274.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:73:y:2011:i:8:p:1266-1274
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2011.07.009
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953611004497
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2011.07.009?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sonalde Desai & Soumya Alva, 1998. "Maternal education and child health: Is there a strong causal relationship?," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 35(1), pages 71-81, February.
    2. Basu, Alaka Malwade & Stephenson, Rob, 2005. "Low levels of maternal education and the proximate determinants of childhood mortality: a little learning is not a dangerous thing," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 60(9), pages 2011-2023, May.
    3. Barrera, Albino, 1990. "The role of maternal schooling and its interaction with public health programs in child health production," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 69-91, January.
    4. Arun Agrawal, 1995. "Dismantling the Divide Between Indigenous and Scientific Knowledge," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 26(3), pages 413-439, July.
    5. Frost, Michelle Bellessa & Forste, Renata & Haas, David W., 2005. "Maternal education and child nutritional status in Bolivia: finding the links," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 60(2), pages 395-407, January.
    6. Cleland, John G. & van Ginneken, Jerome K., 1988. "Maternal education and child survival in developing countries: The search for pathways of influence," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 27(12), pages 1357-1368, January.
    7. Giovannini, Peter & Reyes-García, Victoria & Waldstein, Anna & Heinrich, Michael, 2011. "Do pharmaceuticals displace local knowledge and use of medicinal plants? Estimates from a cross-sectional study in a rural indigenous community, Mexico," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 72(6), pages 928-936, March.
    8. Germano Mwabu & Martha Ainsworth & Andrew Nyamete, 1993. "Quality of Medical Care and Choice of Medical Treatment in Kenya: An Empirical Analysis," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 28(4), pages 838-862.
    9. Nyamongo, I. K., 2002. "Health care switching behaviour of malaria patients in a Kenyan rural community," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 54(3), pages 377-386, February.
    10. Nathan, Martha A. & Fratkin, Elliot M. & Roth, Eric Abella, 1996. "Sedentism and child health among rendille pastoralists of Northern Kenya," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 43(4), pages 503-515, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Little, Emily E. & Polanco, Maria Alejandra & Baldizon, Salvador R. & Wagner, Pascale & Shakya, Holly, 2019. "Breastfeeding knowledge and health behavior among Mayan women in rural Guatemala," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 242(C).
    2. Forsyth, Colin, 2015. "Controlled but not cured: Structural processes and explanatory models of Chagas disease in tropical Bolivia," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 7-16.
    3. Pierce, Hayley & Heaton, Tim B. & Hoffmann, John, 2014. "Increasing maternal healthcare use in Rwanda: Implications for child nutrition and survival," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 61-67.
    4. Zita Oravecz & Royce Anders & William Batchelder, 2015. "Hierarchical Bayesian Modeling for Test Theory Without an Answer Key," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 80(2), pages 341-364, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Makate, Marshall & Makate, Clifton, 2016. "The causal effect of increased primary schooling on child mortality in Malawi: Universal primary education as a natural experiment," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 72-83.
    2. Mugarura, Alex & Kaberuka, Will, 2015. "Multilevel Analysis of Factors Associated with Child Mortality in Uganda," African Journal of Economic Review, African Journal of Economic Review, vol. 3(2), July.
    3. Vikram, Kriti & Vanneman, Reeve & Desai, Sonalde, 2012. "Linkages between maternal education and childhood immunization in India," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(2), pages 331-339.
    4. Quamruzzaman, Amm & Mendoza Rodríguez, José M. & Heymann, Jody & Kaufman, Jay S. & Nandi, Arijit, 2014. "Are tuition-free primary education policies associated with lower infant and neonatal mortality in low- and middle-income countries?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 153-159.
    5. Jayanta Kumar Bora & Rajesh Raushan & Wolfgang Lutz, 2018. "Contribution of Education to Infant and Under-Five Mortality Disparities among Caste Groups in India," VID Working Papers 1803, Vienna Institute of Demography (VID) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna.
    6. Liliana Andriano & Christiaan W. S. Monden, 2019. "The Causal Effect of Maternal Education on Child Mortality: Evidence From a Quasi-Experiment in Malawi and Uganda," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 56(5), pages 1765-1790, October.
    7. Marshall Makate, 2016. "Education Policy and Under-Five Survival in Uganda: Evidence from the Demographic and Health Surveys," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 5(4), pages 1-17, October.
    8. Francesco Burchi, 2012. "Whose education affects a child’s nutritional status? From parents' to household's education," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 27(23), pages 681-704.
    9. Benta A. Abuya & Joyce Mumah & Karen Austrian & Maurice Mutisya & Caroline Kabiru, 2018. "Mothers’ Education and Girls’ Achievement in Kibera: The Link With Self-Efficacy," SAGE Open, , vol. 8(1), pages 21582440187, March.
    10. Somanathan, Aparnaa, 2008. "Use of modern medical care for pregnancy and childbirth care : does female schooling matter ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4625, The World Bank.
    11. Reena Kumari & Rekha Gupta, 2022. "A logistic regression analysis of determinants of child malnutrition in Uttar Pradesh, India," Journal of Community Positive Practices, Catalactica NGO, issue 2, pages 79-98.
    12. Susanna M Makela & Rakhi Dandona & T R Dilip & Lalit Dandona, 2013. "Social Sector Expenditure and Child Mortality in India: A State-Level Analysis from 1997 to 2009," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(2), pages 1-10, February.
    13. repec:ilo:ilowps:361745 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Pradeep Kumar Choudhury, 2015. "Explaining the Role of Parental Education in the Regional Variations in Infant Mortality in India," Asia and the Pacific Policy Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 2(3), pages 544-572, September.
    15. Treleaven, Emily, 2023. "The relationship between extended kin resources and children's healthcare utilization: An analysis of family networks," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 321(C).
    16. Sana Khan & Gianna Claudia Giannelli & Lucia Ferrone, 2024. "Can Maternal Education Enhance Children's Dietary Diversity and Nutritional Outcomes? Evidence from 2003 Education Reform in Kenya," Working Papers - Economics wp2024_12.rdf, Universita' degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Scienze per l'Economia e l'Impresa.
    17. Adnan Fakir & M Khan, 2015. "Determinants of malnutrition among urban slum children in Bangladesh," Health Economics Review, Springer, vol. 5(1), pages 1-11, December.
    18. Frost, Michelle Bellessa & Forste, Renata & Haas, David W., 2005. "Maternal education and child nutritional status in Bolivia: finding the links," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 60(2), pages 395-407, January.
    19. Byaro, Mwoya & Mpeta, Daniel, 2021. "Secondary Education and its Effects on Child Health: Empirical Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa," African Journal of Economic Review, African Journal of Economic Review, vol. 9(2), April.
    20. Steven Block, 2002. "Nutrition Knowledge Versus Schooling in the Demand for Child Micronutrient Status," Working Papers in Food Policy and Nutrition 10, Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy.
    21. Mandal, Biswajit & Bhattacharjee, Prasun & Banerjee, Souvik, 2016. "A Simple Model on Mothers’ Autonomy, Health Inputs, and Child Health," MPRA Paper 76360, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:73:y:2011:i:8:p:1266-1274. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.