Gerrits T
University of Amsterdam, Medical Anthropology Unit, The Netherlands.
Patient Educ Couns. 1997 May;31(1):39-48. doi: 10.1016/s0738-3991(97)01018-5.
Findings of an anthropological study of socio-cultural aspects of infertility among members of the matrilineal ethnic group Macua in the north of Mozambique are presented. Infertile women apply various strategies to have a child. Traditional healers are visited much more often than the modern hospital, and the explanations the infertile women themselves give for their infertility more often originated from the traditional healers than from the hospital staff. Almost all of the interviewed women commit adultery in the hope to conceive. Some of them apply fostering as a partial solution for childlessness. The Macua infertile women experience various consequences due to their infertility, of which exclusion from certain social activities and traditional ceremonies is perceived as a very problematic one. The matrilineal kinship system means that the husband and his family do not mistreat and repudiate her. Infertility must be considered as a serious reproductive health problem in Mozambique. For the long term preventive measures may be more influential than curative one. The findings of this study can be used to elaborate culturally sensitive health education programmes.
本文介绍了一项针对莫桑比克北部母系民族马库阿族成员不育问题社会文化层面的人类学研究结果。不育女性会采取各种策略来生育孩子。她们拜访传统治疗师的频率远高于现代医院，而且不育女性自己对不育原因的解释更多来自传统治疗师而非医院工作人员。几乎所有受访女性都有通奸行为，希望借此怀孕。其中一些女性采用寄养的方式来部分解决无子女问题。马库阿族不育女性因其不育遭遇了各种后果，其中被排除在某些社会活动和传统仪式之外被视为一个非常棘手的问题。母系亲属制度意味着丈夫及其家人不会虐待和抛弃她。在莫桑比克，不育必须被视为一个严重的生殖健康问题。从长远来看，预防措施可能比治疗措施更具影响力。本研究结果可用于制定具有文化敏感性的健康教育项目。
