Vaginal practices as women's agency in sub-Saharan Africa: a synthesis of meaning and motivation through meta-ethnography

Martin Hilber, Adriane; Kenter, Elise; Redmond, Shelagh; Merten, Sonja; Bagnol, Brigitte; Low, Nicola; Garside, Ruth (2012). Vaginal practices as women's agency in sub-Saharan Africa: a synthesis of meaning and motivation through meta-ethnography. Social science & medicine, 74(9), pp. 1311-1323. Amsterdam: Elsevier Science 10.1016/j.socscimed.2011.11.032

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This paper reports on a systematic review of qualitative research about vaginal practices in sub-Saharan Africa, which used meta-ethnographic methods to understand their origins, their meanings for the women who use them, and how they have evolved in time and place. We included published documents which were based on qualitative methods of data collection and analysis and contained information on vaginal practices. After screening, 16 texts were included which dated from 1951 to 2008. We found that practices evolve and adapt to present circumstances and that they remain an important source of power for women to negotiate challenges that they face. Recent evidence suggests that some practices may increase a woman's susceptibility to HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. The success of new female-controlled prevention technologies, such as microbicides, might be determined by whether they can and will be used by women in the course of their daily life.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

04 Faculty of Medicine > Pre-clinic Human Medicine > Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM)

UniBE Contributor:

Martin Hilber, Adriane, Redmond, Shelagh, Low, Nicola

Subjects:

600 Technology > 610 Medicine & health

ISSN:

0277-9536

Publisher:

Elsevier Science

Language:

English

Submitter:

Factscience Import

Date Deposited:

04 Oct 2013 14:22

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 14:06

Publisher DOI:

10.1016/j.socscimed.2011.11.032

PubMed ID:

22401645

Web of Science ID:

000303487700001

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.7345

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/7345 (FactScience: 212554)

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