Chronic Malnutrition, Breastfeeding, and Ready To Use Supplementary Food in a Guatemalan Maya Town

Ready To Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) and Ready To Use Supplementary Food (RUSF) have proliferated in recent years to treat acute and chronic malnutrition. Biomedical research has established the efficacy of these products, yet little is known about their actual effectiveness in real world settings....

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Bibliographic Details
Published inHuman organization Vol. 73; no. 1; pp. 72 - 81
Main Authors Davis, Thomas E., Fischer, Edward F., Rohloff, Peter J., Heimburger, Douglas C.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Oklahoma City Society for Applied Anthropology 01.04.2014
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects
Age
Biomedical research
Biomedicine
Breast milk
Breast-feeding
Breastfeeding
Breastfeeding & lactation
Child nutrition
Children
Children & youth
Clinical trials
Complementary foods
Dietary supplements
Effectiveness
Ethnography
Focus groups
Food
Food supply
Health Interventions in Maya and Hispanic Communities
Households
Malnutrition
Medical Research
Medicine
Milk
Mothers
NGOs
Nongovernmental organizations
Physical growth
Public Health
Rural Areas
Social Support
Studies
Values
Womens health
Guatemala
United States > US
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Summary:Ready To Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) and Ready To Use Supplementary Food (RUSF) have proliferated in recent years to treat acute and chronic malnutrition. Biomedical research has established the efficacy of these products, yet little is known about their actual effectiveness in real world settings. This article reports on an ethnographic study of the acceptance and use of RUSF within households in a rural Maya community in Guatemala (a country with the world's third highest rate of chronic malnutrition). We find a number of surprising obstacles to RUSF effectiveness. There is a strong commitment to breastfeeding (supported by public health messages of local NGOs as well as culturally perceived benefits) that leads to sub-optimal complementary feeding after six months. We also found instances of off-label sharing and confusion over relative nutritional values. We present a framework for maximizing RUSF effectiveness that involves nutritional education, positive peer support, and the framing of the product as a medicine.
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ISSN:0018-7259
1938-3525
DOI:10.17730/humo.73.1.y4h5512h801p5vj0