Reproductive health and schistosomiasis: An exploratory study among women in Agusan del Norte

• Main Author: Mozol, Alvenio Gamban, Jr.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2001
• Subjects: Women > Health and hygiene; Women's health services; Medical care; Schistosomiasis; Swimmer's itch
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_masteral/6760
• Institution: De La Salle University

This study explores the experiences of women who are infected with schistosomiasis and the perceived effects on their psychosocial, economic and reproductive health status.The study was done through in-depth interview using an open interview guide. The fifteen respondents were chosen on the basis of clinically confirmed infection status and reproductive age. Purposive sampling and snowball technique were employed in the selection of the respondents. The age of the respondents ranges from 28 to 47 with 31 as the median. Eight of them had elementary education, five had gone up to high school, and two reached the college level. Respondents earn their seasonal income mainly through farming.The findings of the study show that women are well-informed about schistosomiasis: its sources, mode of transmission, certain characteristics, and its manifestations and effects on an individual. The women traced their infection to their activities that allowed them regular contact with specific water bodies but their experiences regarding schistosomal symptoms vary. In particular, symptoms such as recurring headache, dizziness, abdominal pains, and pain in the nape appeared to be endurable for most while epileptic seizure and lost of sanity for some were considerably serious and harrowing. Initially, abdominal-related symptoms were attributed to kabuhi, ulcer, or bughat. Nonetheless, women's self-styled diagnosis expressed in their intuition (pagduda) played a significant part in their treatment-seeking. The communal experience of the disease, the characteristics of their 'lived-environment', and the personally-observed changes in their health status shaped this intuition. The women heavily relied on the available drug but their willingness for medication was normally interfered by pregnancy and treatment policy that required clinical confirmation of their infection status prior to medication.Women have not perceived direct effects of schistosomiasis of their menstrual cycle. The symptoms that occurred during pregnancy were deemed tolerable except among those who had experienced anemia, ectopic pregnancy, seizure, and spontaneous abortion. Three respondents described their delivery as painful compared with past birthing experiences, while the serious symptoms had extended into the postpartum period for some. They remain uncertain though, whether schistosomiasis had directly caused these varied experiences. This is an issue that merits further study with larger sample size.On the psychosocial level, women did not experience isolation in the community. Instead, they found their immediate community supportive of them. Similarly, the infection has not affected their domestic and income-earning preoccupations.