Establishing the causes of childhood mortality in Ghana: the 'spirit child'.
Communities in remote regions of northeast Ghana record some of the highest rates of under five mortality in West Africa (23.9 per 1000 children/year (Binka, Maude et al. (1995). International Journal of Epidemiology, 24(1), 127-135). The communities, isolated geographically and culturally from the main tribal groups in Ghana continue to adhere very strongly to traditional beliefs and practices. A qualitative study of both traditional and modern maternal and child health care systems in the area, demonstrated that almost 15% of deaths of infants under 3 months of age were due to a belief in chichuru or spirit children, resulting in infanticide. It is therefore a significant public health problem, which has to be addressed in programs for the control of child mortality. A modification of the verbal autopsy method is proposed to assist in the identification of non-biomedical causes of death.
International Programs, Key Center for Women's Health, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Melbourne, Carlton Vic, Australia. p.allotey@kcwh.unimelb.edu.au
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D000884:Anthropology, Cultural; D001294:Attitude to Health; D002423:Cause of Death; D000013:Congenital Abnormalities / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality / Q000523:psychology*; D003469:Culture; D005260:Female; D005869:Ghana / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007226:Infant Mortality; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007237:Infanticide / Q000208:ethnology*; D008519:Medicine, Traditional; D011159:Population Surveillance; D011247:Pregnancy