Comparing Indigenous and public health infant feeding recommendations in Peru: Opportunities for optimizing intercultural health policies

Autores
Monteban, Madalena; Yucra Velasquez, Valeria; Yucra Velasquez, Benedicta
Año de publicación
2018
Idioma
inglés
Tipo de recurso
artículo
Estado
versión publicada
Descripción
Background: The problem of childhood undernutrition in low-income countries persists despite long-standing efforts by local governmental and international development agencies. In order to address this problem, the Peruvian Ministry of Health has focused on improving access to primary healthcare and providing maternal and child health monitoring and education. Current maternal-child health policies in Peru introduce recommendations that are in some respect distinct from those of Indigenous highland communities. This paper analyses the similarities and differences between public health and mothers' infant feeding recommendations. Furthermore, it analyses persistence and change in those recommendations among women who were mothers before and after the introduction of current public health policies. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 18 older mothers, 15 currently breastfeeding mothers, and 15 public health staff in highland rural communities of Peru. During data analysis, thematic codes and text passages were used in an iterative analytic process to document emerging themes. Results: The results highlight the existence of a traditional corpus of beliefs surrounding infant feeding and care that is consistent with Andean ethnomedical beliefs. This is illustrated by mother's accounts referring to the importance of maintaining a dietary balance of fluids and semi-fluids and of maintaining harmony with the elements in the natural environment. Mothers also incorporate aspects of public health recommendations that they find useful including initiating breastfeeding immediately after birth and exclusive breastfeeding up until 6months. There are also tensions between the two systems including differences in the conceptualization of breastfeeding and infant food, the imposition of public health care services by coercive means, and negative stereotyping of rural Andean diets and mothers. Conclusions: Identifying similarities and differences between distinct systems may provide useful input for effective intercultural health policies. Sources of tension should be carefully assessed with the aim of improving public health policies. Such efforts should apply a process of cultural humility engaging health care professionals in exchange and conversations with patients and communities acknowledging the assumptions and beliefs that are embedded in their own understanding. This process should also recognize and value the knowledge and practices of Andean mothers and their role as primary caretakers.
Fil: Monteban, Madalena. University Of Georgia. Department Of Anthropology; Estados Unidos. Ctro Científico Tecnológico CONICET Salta. UE CISOR; Argentina
Fil: Yucra-Velasquez, Valeria. Andes Asociacion Por la Naturaleza y Desarrollo Sustent; Perú
Fil: Benedicta, Yucra-Velasquez. Andes Asociacion Por la Naturaleza y Desarrollo Sustent; Perú
Materia
ANDES
BREASTFEEDING
ETHNOMEDICINE
INFANT FEEDING
INTERCULTURAL HEALTH
PUBLIC HEALTH
Nivel de accesibilidad
acceso abierto
Condiciones de uso
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/ar/
Repositorio
CONICET Digital (CONICET)
Institución
Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
OAI Identificador
oai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/94958

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spelling Comparing Indigenous and public health infant feeding recommendations in Peru: Opportunities for optimizing intercultural health policiesMonteban, MadalenaYucra Velasquez, ValeriaYucra Velasquez, BenedictaANDESBREASTFEEDINGETHNOMEDICINEINFANT FEEDINGINTERCULTURAL HEALTHPUBLIC HEALTHhttps://purl.org/becyt/ford/5.9https://purl.org/becyt/ford/5Background: The problem of childhood undernutrition in low-income countries persists despite long-standing efforts by local governmental and international development agencies. In order to address this problem, the Peruvian Ministry of Health has focused on improving access to primary healthcare and providing maternal and child health monitoring and education. Current maternal-child health policies in Peru introduce recommendations that are in some respect distinct from those of Indigenous highland communities. This paper analyses the similarities and differences between public health and mothers' infant feeding recommendations. Furthermore, it analyses persistence and change in those recommendations among women who were mothers before and after the introduction of current public health policies. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 18 older mothers, 15 currently breastfeeding mothers, and 15 public health staff in highland rural communities of Peru. During data analysis, thematic codes and text passages were used in an iterative analytic process to document emerging themes. Results: The results highlight the existence of a traditional corpus of beliefs surrounding infant feeding and care that is consistent with Andean ethnomedical beliefs. This is illustrated by mother's accounts referring to the importance of maintaining a dietary balance of fluids and semi-fluids and of maintaining harmony with the elements in the natural environment. Mothers also incorporate aspects of public health recommendations that they find useful including initiating breastfeeding immediately after birth and exclusive breastfeeding up until 6months. There are also tensions between the two systems including differences in the conceptualization of breastfeeding and infant food, the imposition of public health care services by coercive means, and negative stereotyping of rural Andean diets and mothers. Conclusions: Identifying similarities and differences between distinct systems may provide useful input for effective intercultural health policies. Sources of tension should be carefully assessed with the aim of improving public health policies. Such efforts should apply a process of cultural humility engaging health care professionals in exchange and conversations with patients and communities acknowledging the assumptions and beliefs that are embedded in their own understanding. This process should also recognize and value the knowledge and practices of Andean mothers and their role as primary caretakers.Fil: Monteban, Madalena. University Of Georgia. Department Of Anthropology; Estados Unidos. Ctro Científico Tecnológico CONICET Salta. UE CISOR; ArgentinaFil: Yucra-Velasquez, Valeria. Andes Asociacion Por la Naturaleza y Desarrollo Sustent; PerúFil: Benedicta, Yucra-Velasquez. Andes Asociacion Por la Naturaleza y Desarrollo Sustent; PerúBioMed Central2018-11info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionhttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501info:ar-repo/semantics/articuloapplication/pdfapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/11336/94958Monteban, Madalena; Yucra Velasquez, Valeria; Yucra Velasquez, Benedicta; Comparing Indigenous and public health infant feeding recommendations in Peru: Opportunities for optimizing intercultural health policies; BioMed Central; Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine; 14; 1; 11-2018; 1-131746-4269CONICET DigitalCONICETenginfo:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/url/https://ethnobiomed.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13002-018-0271-2info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1186/s13002-018-0271-2info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccesshttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/ar/reponame:CONICET Digital (CONICET)instname:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas2025-09-29T10:07:53Zoai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/94958instacron:CONICETInstitucionalhttp://ri.conicet.gov.ar/Organismo científico-tecnológicoNo correspondehttp://ri.conicet.gov.ar/oai/requestdasensio@conicet.gov.ar; lcarlino@conicet.gov.arArgentinaNo correspondeNo correspondeNo correspondeopendoar:34982025-09-29 10:07:54.053CONICET Digital (CONICET) - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicasfalse
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Comparing Indigenous and public health infant feeding recommendations in Peru: Opportunities for optimizing intercultural health policies
title Comparing Indigenous and public health infant feeding recommendations in Peru: Opportunities for optimizing intercultural health policies
spellingShingle Comparing Indigenous and public health infant feeding recommendations in Peru: Opportunities for optimizing intercultural health policies
Monteban, Madalena
ANDES
BREASTFEEDING
ETHNOMEDICINE
INFANT FEEDING
INTERCULTURAL HEALTH
PUBLIC HEALTH
title_short Comparing Indigenous and public health infant feeding recommendations in Peru: Opportunities for optimizing intercultural health policies
title_full Comparing Indigenous and public health infant feeding recommendations in Peru: Opportunities for optimizing intercultural health policies
title_fullStr Comparing Indigenous and public health infant feeding recommendations in Peru: Opportunities for optimizing intercultural health policies
title_full_unstemmed Comparing Indigenous and public health infant feeding recommendations in Peru: Opportunities for optimizing intercultural health policies
title_sort Comparing Indigenous and public health infant feeding recommendations in Peru: Opportunities for optimizing intercultural health policies
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Monteban, Madalena
Yucra Velasquez, Valeria
Yucra Velasquez, Benedicta
author Monteban, Madalena
author_facet Monteban, Madalena
Yucra Velasquez, Valeria
Yucra Velasquez, Benedicta
author_role author
author2 Yucra Velasquez, Valeria
Yucra Velasquez, Benedicta
author2_role author
author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv ANDES
BREASTFEEDING
ETHNOMEDICINE
INFANT FEEDING
INTERCULTURAL HEALTH
PUBLIC HEALTH
topic ANDES
BREASTFEEDING
ETHNOMEDICINE
INFANT FEEDING
INTERCULTURAL HEALTH
PUBLIC HEALTH
purl_subject.fl_str_mv https://purl.org/becyt/ford/5.9
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/5
dc.description.none.fl_txt_mv Background: The problem of childhood undernutrition in low-income countries persists despite long-standing efforts by local governmental and international development agencies. In order to address this problem, the Peruvian Ministry of Health has focused on improving access to primary healthcare and providing maternal and child health monitoring and education. Current maternal-child health policies in Peru introduce recommendations that are in some respect distinct from those of Indigenous highland communities. This paper analyses the similarities and differences between public health and mothers' infant feeding recommendations. Furthermore, it analyses persistence and change in those recommendations among women who were mothers before and after the introduction of current public health policies. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 18 older mothers, 15 currently breastfeeding mothers, and 15 public health staff in highland rural communities of Peru. During data analysis, thematic codes and text passages were used in an iterative analytic process to document emerging themes. Results: The results highlight the existence of a traditional corpus of beliefs surrounding infant feeding and care that is consistent with Andean ethnomedical beliefs. This is illustrated by mother's accounts referring to the importance of maintaining a dietary balance of fluids and semi-fluids and of maintaining harmony with the elements in the natural environment. Mothers also incorporate aspects of public health recommendations that they find useful including initiating breastfeeding immediately after birth and exclusive breastfeeding up until 6months. There are also tensions between the two systems including differences in the conceptualization of breastfeeding and infant food, the imposition of public health care services by coercive means, and negative stereotyping of rural Andean diets and mothers. Conclusions: Identifying similarities and differences between distinct systems may provide useful input for effective intercultural health policies. Sources of tension should be carefully assessed with the aim of improving public health policies. Such efforts should apply a process of cultural humility engaging health care professionals in exchange and conversations with patients and communities acknowledging the assumptions and beliefs that are embedded in their own understanding. This process should also recognize and value the knowledge and practices of Andean mothers and their role as primary caretakers.
Fil: Monteban, Madalena. University Of Georgia. Department Of Anthropology; Estados Unidos. Ctro Científico Tecnológico CONICET Salta. UE CISOR; Argentina
Fil: Yucra-Velasquez, Valeria. Andes Asociacion Por la Naturaleza y Desarrollo Sustent; Perú
Fil: Benedicta, Yucra-Velasquez. Andes Asociacion Por la Naturaleza y Desarrollo Sustent; Perú
description Background: The problem of childhood undernutrition in low-income countries persists despite long-standing efforts by local governmental and international development agencies. In order to address this problem, the Peruvian Ministry of Health has focused on improving access to primary healthcare and providing maternal and child health monitoring and education. Current maternal-child health policies in Peru introduce recommendations that are in some respect distinct from those of Indigenous highland communities. This paper analyses the similarities and differences between public health and mothers' infant feeding recommendations. Furthermore, it analyses persistence and change in those recommendations among women who were mothers before and after the introduction of current public health policies. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 18 older mothers, 15 currently breastfeeding mothers, and 15 public health staff in highland rural communities of Peru. During data analysis, thematic codes and text passages were used in an iterative analytic process to document emerging themes. Results: The results highlight the existence of a traditional corpus of beliefs surrounding infant feeding and care that is consistent with Andean ethnomedical beliefs. This is illustrated by mother's accounts referring to the importance of maintaining a dietary balance of fluids and semi-fluids and of maintaining harmony with the elements in the natural environment. Mothers also incorporate aspects of public health recommendations that they find useful including initiating breastfeeding immediately after birth and exclusive breastfeeding up until 6months. There are also tensions between the two systems including differences in the conceptualization of breastfeeding and infant food, the imposition of public health care services by coercive means, and negative stereotyping of rural Andean diets and mothers. Conclusions: Identifying similarities and differences between distinct systems may provide useful input for effective intercultural health policies. Sources of tension should be carefully assessed with the aim of improving public health policies. Such efforts should apply a process of cultural humility engaging health care professionals in exchange and conversations with patients and communities acknowledging the assumptions and beliefs that are embedded in their own understanding. This process should also recognize and value the knowledge and practices of Andean mothers and their role as primary caretakers.
publishDate 2018
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2018-11
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
info:ar-repo/semantics/articulo
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/11336/94958
Monteban, Madalena; Yucra Velasquez, Valeria; Yucra Velasquez, Benedicta; Comparing Indigenous and public health infant feeding recommendations in Peru: Opportunities for optimizing intercultural health policies; BioMed Central; Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine; 14; 1; 11-2018; 1-13
1746-4269
CONICET Digital
CONICET
url http://hdl.handle.net/11336/94958
identifier_str_mv Monteban, Madalena; Yucra Velasquez, Valeria; Yucra Velasquez, Benedicta; Comparing Indigenous and public health infant feeding recommendations in Peru: Opportunities for optimizing intercultural health policies; BioMed Central; Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine; 14; 1; 11-2018; 1-13
1746-4269
CONICET Digital
CONICET
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv eng
language eng
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info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1186/s13002-018-0271-2
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/ar/
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dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv BioMed Central
publisher.none.fl_str_mv BioMed Central
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