indian council of medical research - Pondicherry University DSpace ...

were all unanimous In saying that they would glve the same allent~on to the~r ch~ld
whether it was a girl or a boy.
The f~ll~~iflg are some of the statements made in this regard:-
1. "Who gives home remedies these days? It is only English medicine" (A 28 year
old woman in a group discussion).
2. "If my children fall sick, I take them to the VHN. She usually gives some
tablets. If it doesn't become all right I go to a doctor" (A 42 year old man In a
group discussion). Many people made a sim~lar statement.
3. "If some child has abdominal pain, we first go to the doctor and only then give
soda" (A 29 year old woman In a group discussion).
4. "There are a lot of home remedies. For cold and cough you can give "thulasi"
leaves or "musmusu" leaves" (A 36 year old woman in a group discuss~on)
5. "For jaundice only indigenous medicine will work. You have to smear him with
a paste of buffalo curds and some leaves.
Then you give him a bath.
Jaundice will go away in 3 days. He should also be given a diet without salt. If
jaundice doesn't go you can repeat the treatment" (A 40 year old Inan 111 an 11'-
depth interview).
Other Epidemioloaical Methods
Dats on this issue were obtained from the cross sectional morbidity survey and cohort
Study
It was found that 87 episodes of illnesses (33.0%) reported in the cross
sectional morbidity school survey and 139 episodes of illnesses (45.4%) reported in the
Cohort study were not given any form of treatment. Out of the various methods of
treatment available, allopathy was most commonly followed. The type of treatment