An anthropological study of the meanings and practices of family care for children’s health in indigenous communities of northern Salta

Abstract

Intestinal parasitosis is a disease that predominantly affects the most disadvantaged social groups, especially children, with the most vulnerable population being in rural areas and peri-urban areas of cities. In this sense, this article addresses the meanings that families attribute to a set of illnesses that affect children, ranging from nutritional problems, chronic non-communicable diseases, skin allergies, gastrointestinal diseases, highlighting mainly the references to diseases caused by intestinal parasitosis. To do so, the native categories referenced by families to describe such illnesses are identified, the appropriation of certain terms derived from the relationship with health agents as well as the configuration of practices of indigenous groups that live in peri-urban neighborhoods of the city of Tartagal, San Martin department (Salta). Based on the contribution of the anthropology of health theorists, the diseases caused by intestinal parasites and other conditions that affect children are addressed as part of a collectively developed understanding, based on health interventions and care practices that are produced in vulnerable health environments, the product of territorial dispossession and confinement to unfavorable living spaces.