Bowlingpotts5527

INTRODUCTION Policy directions in the health sector are based on research which provides insight into implemented actions and helps to formulate improvement recommendations for health. In Cameroon, an innovative experience of anthropological research on newborn health was followed by a process of appropriating findings by the Ministry of Public Health aiming at improving the quality of care. We suggest reporting this Cameroonian experience of interdisciplinary collaboration and involved research. METHOD Coinciding with the anthropological study on newborn care in hospital maternities and at home conducted by researchers in the field of anthropology from December 2016 to June 2017, a process of appropriating findings was carried out. This article accurately describes this process both at the peripheral level, during "reflexive returns" in investigated maternity hospitals, and at the central level within the framework of work conducted by the study's steering committee. It reports on the changes that have taken place as a result of the study both at the level of health structures and at the level of national policies and strategies with a view to improving the quality of newborns care. RESULTS The output of this process is twofold. At the peripheral level, activities of "reflexive returns" led to in situ changes of some harmful practices detrimental to the survival of the newborn, such as inappropriate use of the cradle in the birth room and lack of knowledge relative to the fight against hypothermia through the practice of skin-to-skin contact. At central level, changes concerned communication and strengthening policies and strategies of newborn care. CONCLUSION The contribution of anthropology in the production evidence-based data is of paramount importance for the implementation of strategies to improve the quality of neonatal care. It opens up new perspectives for the sustainable improvement of the quality of care for newborns.INTRODUCTION In Sub-Saharan Africa, despite the establishment of many health care programs, neonatal mortality rates remain extremely high. From a medical point of view, the main causes are obstetric, along with diarrhea and pneumonia. Understanding how these risks and pathogenic situations are constructed cannot be achieved without observing, analyzing, and understanding the underlying gestures and meaning systems. METHOD Rather than describing obvious inequalities in the access to health care, our study aimed at questioning the different actors' operational capacities and at considering what is actually possible to improve in the most common healthcare situations. More specifically, how are births, neonatal care, and popular practices carried out in the first days of the lives of these newborns? In five countries of West Africa, a "multi-sited" anthropological study was carried out to observe the first weeks of newborns. This study not only allowed for the methodical identification of care interactions at aed dialogues with families which will enable the indispensable follow-up care for the newborns and ensure adapted preventive care and coherence in the care provided by the healthcare structures, the families, and the collectivities.INTRODUCTION Driven by international programs specifically targeting neonatal survival, a set of recommended care practices is being promoted in West Africa. Using data from a multi-centered anthropological study, we enquire as to how local practices integrate the recommendations disseminated by these programs. METHOD The surveys were conducted in rural localities in five countries  Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, and Togo. In every site, the investigations combined ethnography of newborn care and in-depth interviews in maternity homes and homes. RESULTS The care of newborns is based on a set of local social representations and logics, where medical recommendations are integrated heterogeneously. In maternity wards, health professionals face difficulties in implementing recommended practices, and make various conciliations when faced with local material and social constraints. In private homes, the "messages" promoting life-saving care for newborns punctuate conversations, but lead to various interpretations and variations in care. DISCUSSION The irregular integration of medical recommendations in neonatal care is analyzed around three areas the divergence of intentions around the birth, the dissonances between the recommended care and the local conceptions of the newborn, the influence of intra-family power relations. Considering the complexity of the changes in neonatal care, we argue for the implementation of programs that respect local cultures, and for health professionals to skillfully accommodate conflicting constraints.INTRODUCTION The WHO and UNICEF have declared exclusive breast-feeding one of the essential tools in the fight against neonatal mortality. Both international bodies finalized a 40-hour training program to provide counseling in feeding, to teach a body of care-givers to bring qualified assistance to the breast-feeding mothers and to help them to overcome their difficulties. However, in the field and in maternities such as those where the study took place (Boucle du Mouhoun region in the northwest of Burkina Faso), although technical recommendations are generally adopted and respected, exclusive breastfeeding makes it difficult for mothers to find their way. The aim of this study is to examine the blockages existing at the maternity ward and in families which prevent the practice of exclusive breastfeeding from becoming widespread. A qualitative approach was used through open interviews with various socio-professional medical categories and community members. METHOD Fourteen observations were made in the families. Twenty-four observations were made on the care of the newborn at home. selleck Thirty-eight interviews with health and administrative staff and nine interviews with healers using traditional knowledge were also conducted. RESULTS The results show that exclusive breastfeeding is complicated to implement particularly in rural areas because of the use of medicinal plants in the form of washing and gavage. Moreover, the information is not given to mothers of families at the appropriate time. CONCLUSION In conclusion, we suggest that maternities be thought out and designed in partnership with the health workers who use them.