PRESERVING THE POT AND WATER - A TRADITIONAL CONCEPT OF REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH IN A YORUBA COMMUNITY, NIGERIA

Within the background of the outcome of the 1994 Cairo Conference, thi s paper describes a traditional conceptualization of prenatal care in a Nigerian community and draws their implication for effective deliver y of reproductive health services in the area. The data used were from qualitative interviews during 2 field trips to the community in 1988- 89 and 1991. The finding of the study highlights a local metaphor that likened the risks of pregnancy and child birth to a group of women th at trekked to a local brook to fetch water with their earthen pots: so me fell, broke their pots; some missed steps and spilt their water but kept their pots, and others returned without any mishap. The first gr oup represented cases of maternal mortality; the second group were cas es of miscarriage, still-births or infant deaths, and the third group represented successful outcomes for both pregnancy and the resultant b aby. Various steps that were traditionally taken to ensure that the mo ther neither lost her pot nor spilled her water are described. The imp lications of these findings for policy and research are discussed in t he paper. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.