Kasena Norms and Reproductive Health

Kasena reproductive culture is pro-natalist, pro-child and pro-offspring and this is obvious from their norms, sayings, and their institutions. This pro-natalist attitude is inculcated in children at an early age. These are not just glib generalisations. There is in fact evidence for this in almost all aspects of life, but we also encounter practices that appear to contradict this inclination such as the belief in spirits masquerading as babies with congenital deformities which are perceived as threats to the family and society and who should therefore be gotten rid of or the encouragement of social menopause in a pre-menopausal couple. A variety of other ethnographic facts mediate the tendency to place ultimate value in large family sizes. (Inst. of African Studies Research Review: 2002 18 (1): 13-26

In Conversation with Albert K Awedoba

CJAS speaks to its immediate past editor-in-chief on his experiences in the academy and as editor.  We hope that our younger scholars will be especially edified as they learn more about Awedoba but also the academy and the work of a journal

Gender and the stigma of onchocercal skin disease in Africa

This paper reports results from a multicenter study of gender differences in the stigma associated with onchocercal skin disease (OSD) in five African sites: Cameroon, Ghana, Nigeria (Awka and Ibadan) and Uganda. The studies used a common protocol to compare affected and unaffected respondents, that is, men and women with onchodermatitis in highly endemic areas and respondents from communities with low endemicity or no onchocerciasis. The methods were both quantitative and qualitative, allowing for the comparison of stigma scores and people's verbal descriptions of their experiences and attitudes. Questions to the unaffected were asked after providing them with photographs and short descriptions (vignettes) depicting typical cases. We found that stigma was expressed more openly by the unaffected, who perceived OSD as something foreign or removed from themselves, whereas the affected tended to deny that they experienced stigma as a result of the condition. Gender differences in stigma scores were not significantly different for men and women, but qualitative data revealed that stigma was experienced differently by men and women, and that men and women were affected by it in distinctive ways. Men were more concerned about the impact of the disease on sexual performance and economic prospects, whereas women expressed more concern about physical appearance and life chances, especially marriage. Similar trends were found in the different sites in the responses of affected and unaffected respondents, and differences between them, despite geographical and cultural variations.Onchocerciasis Skin disease Stigma Gender Africa