El mal de ojo y su relación con el marasmo y kwashiorkor: El caso de las madres de Turbo, Antioquia, Colombia

ABSTRACT: To describe perceptions and sociocultural practices by the mothers facing severe malnutrition in children: Marasmus and Kwashiorkor. Methodology: Descriptive ethnography. Twenty semi-structured interviews and two tribal ones were carried. Homes and hospitalized children were observed. Analysis was manually performed. Results: Mother perceives severe malnutrition like “mal de ojo” consequence afflicting children under seven. Mal de ojo is classified as “drying-eye” or as “street-eye”. Mothers think that “drying-eye” emaciates children meaning something like what we call marasmus, where as we cannot tell weather “street-eye” means kwashiorkor; but in any case kwashiorkor is deemed to be caused by mal de ojo. “Traditional” medics like rezanderos perform important tasks in the treatment of cultural linked illnesses. Conclusions: Malnourishment is considered a “state” and finally it is reduced to statistical data hindering the integral treatment of children.The study reveals a world unknown by the biomedical system and a world of cultural practices facing malnourishment that adequately assessed could improve integral treatment and prevent infant mortality by severe malnourishment or by mal de ojo.

• Autores: Uribe Gil, Gildardo; Alcaraz López, Gloria Margarita
• Tipo de recurso: Article of investigation
• Fecha de publicación: 2007
• Institución: Universidad de Antioquia
• Repositorio: Repositorio UdeA
• Idioma: spa
• OAI Identifier: oai:bibliotecadigital.udea.edu.co:10495/5063
• Acceso en línea: http://hdl.handle.net/10495/5063
• Palabra clave: Marasmo; Kwashiorkor; Malnutrición; Cultura; Etnografía; Etnomedicina; Marasmus; Malnutrition; Culture; Ethnography; Ethnomedicine
• Rights: openAccess
• License: Atribución-NoComercial-CompartirIgual 2.5 Colombia (CC BY-NC-SA 2.5 CO)