03299nas a2200433   4500000000100000008004100001653000900042653002300051653001600074653002100090653001700111653002500128653001800153653002700171653002600198653000900224653001200233653001100245653002400256653004200280653001100322653001000333653001000343653001200353653001600365653001500381100001300396700002400409700001300433700001300446700001400459700002000473245010500493856007100598300001000669490000700679520216500686022001402851       2011                            d10aSoil10aSocial Environment10aSex Factors10aRural Population10aRisk Factors10aQualitative Research10aPoverty Areas10aParent-Child Relations10aMedicine, Traditional10aMale10aHygiene10aHumans10aHookworm Infections10aHealth Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice10aFemale10aFeces10aChild10aBolivia10aAge Factors10aAdolescent1 aTanner S1 aChuquimia-Choque ME1 aHuanca T1 aMcDade T1 aLeonard W1 aReyes-García V00aThe effects of local medicinal knowledge and hygiene on helminth infections in an Amazonian society.  uhttp://icta.uab.es/Etnoecologia/Docs/[168]-Tanner_Bichos_SSM11.pdf  a701-90 v723 a<p>Social science has long recognized the importance of understanding how interactions between culture and behavior shape disease patterns, especially in resource-poor areas where individuals draw on multiple medical treatments to maintain health. While global health programs aimed at controlling high infection rates of soil-transmitted helminthes among indigenous groups often acknowledge the value of local culture, little research has been able to examine this value. This study investigates the association between parental ethnomedical knowledge, parental biomedical knowledge, and household sanitation behavior and childhood soil-transmitted helminth infections among a group of foragers-farmers in the Bolivian Amazon (Tsimane'). During 2007, a parasitological survey was completed for 329 children (≤ 16 years of age) from 109 households in combination with a comprehensive survey of both of the child's parents to assess biomedical and ethnomedical knowledge and household sanitary environment. Soil-transmitted helminthes were found to be common with 67% of sample positive for hookworm species. Indices that capture a household's relative state of risky and preventive hygienic behavior were significantly associated with risk of hookworm infection. Mother's but not father's ethnomedical knowledge was also negatively associated with a child's probability of being positive for hookworm infection. The effect was stronger for young children and boys. Like many rural populations, Tsimane' actively draw upon multiple medical systems to respond to health challenges. Integration into markets and national societies is likely to affect local medical systems by increasing the use of biomedicine as formal education prioritizes biomedical over ethnomedical systems. This study underscores the value of considering both ethnomedical knowledge systems and household hygiene in public health campaigns to treat and control soil-transmitted helminths. There is no question that providing medication is critical, but this study demonstrates that poverty is not synonymous with either poor hygiene or the lack of valuable ethnomedicinal knowledge.</p>
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