"He will ask why the child gets sick so often": the gendered dynamics of intra-household bargaining over healthcare for children with fever in the Volta Region of Ghana.

Tolhurst, Rachel ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3005-6641, Amekudzi, Yaa Peprah, Nyonator, Frank K, Squire, Bertie ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7173-9038 and Theobald, Sally ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9053-211X (2008) '"He will ask why the child gets sick so often": the gendered dynamics of intra-household bargaining over healthcare for children with fever in the Volta Region of Ghana.'. Social Science & Medicine, Vol 66, Issue 5, pp. 1106-1117.

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Abstract

This paper explores the gendered dynamics of intra-household bargaining around treatment seeking for children with fever revealed through two qualitative research studies in the Volta Region of Ghana, and discusses the influence of different gender and health discourses on the likely policy implications drawn from such findings. Methods used included focus group discussions, in-depth and critical incidence interviews, and Participatory Learning and Action methods. We found that treatment seeking behaviour for children was influenced by norms of decision-making power and 'ownership' of children, access to and control over resources to pay for treatment, norms of responsibility for payment, marital status, household living arrangements, and the quality of relationships between mothers, fathers and elders. However, the implications of these findings may be interpreted from different perspectives. Most studies that have considered gender in relation to malaria have done so within a narrow biomedical approach to health that focuses only on the outcomes of gender relations in terms of the (non-)utilisation of allopathic healthcare. However, we argue that a 'gender transformatory' approach, which aims to promote women's empowerment, needs to include but go beyond this model, to consider broader potential outcomes of intra-household bargaining for women's and men's interests, including their livelihoods and 'bargaining positions'.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Ghana Gender Malaria Gender mainstreaming Decision-making Health seeking behaviour Children
Subjects:	W General Medicine. Health Professions > Health Services. Patients and Patient Advocacy > W 85 Patients. Attitude and compliance W General Medicine. Health Professions > Health Services. Patients and Patient Advocacy > W 84 Health services. Delivery of health care WA Public Health > WA 30 Socioeconomic factors in public health (General) WA Public Health > Health Problems of Special Population Groups > WA 395 Health in developing countries WC Communicable Diseases > Tropical and Parasitic Diseases > WC 750 Malaria WS Pediatrics > WS 20 Research (General)
Faculty: Department:	Groups (2002 - 2012) > Clinical Group
Digital Object Identifer (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2007.11.032
Depositing User:	Helen Rigby
Date Deposited:	30 May 2012 14:20
Last Modified:	08 Sep 2020 10:07
URI:	https://archive.lstmed.ac.uk/id/eprint/2849

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