Roles Without Powers: the Paradox of Child Health Care Provisioning in Mbaise Households, Nigeria

This book results from carefully designed and implemented doctoral dissertation, in response to the call for an interrogation of what happens in the homes, particularly as the household gains prominence in health care provisioning. The role of the family as the major care giver of children has gained recognition and there is now a new demand for partnership between the health workers and families, with support from their communities. As the household becomes the key unit in this partnership for the management of childhood illness, it becomes imperative to investigate those factors associated with household child care practices in response to childhood fevers. The aim of this study, therefore, was to identify the culturally distinct pattern of response to childhood fevers, which is almost the commonest health problem among children. The book situated child health care provisioning in its cultural context, an understanding that is crucial for effective child health management and realization of the millennium development goal target four (MDG4). Theoretically, the results confirmed aspects of the culture bound theory, the theory of planned behavior and the gender analysis framework.