Children's Health Care and its Relationship to the Educational level of Mothers - an Anthropological Study in Some areas in Relizane -

Abstract

The study is centred on the therapeutic and preventive beliefs and practices directed to the care of children under five (05) years of age and their relationship with the educational level of mothers. It aims to reveal the ways of dealing with health and illness in the Ghilizan region, after observing the existence of various forms of therapeutic and preventive recourse for mothers, ranging from popular to official, depending on their level of education and cultural background. Since the research falls within the anthropological approach that relies on the qualitative method through repeated interviews with mothers and direct observation at the level of different therapeutic spaces such as health centres, traditional healers and spiritual spaces, one of the findings of this study is that despite the changes that the region has witnessed in the provision of health services, mothers still adhere to some perceptions and behaviours with a folk reference, without the educational level having a differential impact in adopting a particular therapeutic pathway without others.