Dear Neil,
I would like to give my thoughts on this question. Do you have any thoughts on why health education about how to treat diarrhoea continues to be very challenging in India?
In India, people believe in superstitions and wrath of God, especially if they belong to the rural part of India. When someone educates them on the fluid intake, they assume that "they are already passing fluids, if they drink more fluid it's going to cause more diarrhoea since diarrhoea constitutes of water". Similarly, there are many such superstitions present and it's so difficult for the health educator to convince such type of people. We also have joint family system still being practiced in many households. If the elders believe in somethings then the younger ones are suppose to be following that in that household. Even if a women or a mother wants to follow what the educator has mentioned, she is constrained by the superstitious elder present in the house.
These are some of the problems which we observe on a daily basis.
Warm regards,
Prerna M. Singh
HIFA Profile: Prerna M. Singh is an MSc in Nursing at the Christian Medical College, Vellore, India who aims to participate in the preventive, promotive, curative health of children and their families; to help children attain their optimal development; to make children knowledgable about self and significant others; to make their childhood disease free.
Email address: mprernasingh AT gmail.com