/awu mbié/ ou « mortalité maternelle » à mfou, région du centre-Cameroun : une contribution à l’anthropologie médicale

Abstract

This anthropological study is entitled ; /AWU MBIÉ/ OU « MORTALITÉ MATERNELLE » À MFOU, RÉGION DU CENTRE-CAMEROUN : UNE CONTRIBUTION À L’ANTHROPOLOGIE MÉDICALE. This research examines the problem of surviving maternal deaths before, during and 42 days after childbirth within the Bëne’s sociocultural in Mfou Subdivision, Mefou and Afamba Division, Central Region, Cameroon. The resistant loss of parturient has raised a number of concerns, the main one being the cultural basis of maternal mortality among the Bëne in Mfou. Specifically, the questions focus on the etiology of maternal deaths, the way in which the Bëne socio-culture views maternal mortality, and finally the attempt to define solutions. As a pre-answer to the central question, maternal mortality finds its meaning in the endogenous practices and socio-cultural norms of the Bëne of Mfou. The subsidiary hypotheses establish the medical, logistical and cultural aspects of maternal deaths; the cultural and social aspects of maternal mortality; and finally, the cultural, social and medical-health aspects of measures to contain the recurrence of maternal deaths. In this perspective, the main objective is to understand maternal mortality among the Bëne in Mfou. This understanding is achieved by identifying the sources of maternal death, deciphering the representations and symbolism of childbirth, and the beliefs related to maternal disappearance. To achieve these objectives, a cross-sectional research, combining qualitative and quantitative approaches, was deployed; the collection and analysis of secondary and primary datain strict compliance with ethical provisions. It should also be noted that the significance of our results is rooted in three main theories: ethnomethodology, sociocultural risk, and gender approach. Beyond the causes regularly highlighted in secondary data, the etiology and factors of maternal death among the Bëne in Mfou are related to cultural, medical, socioeconomic, capacity and infrastructure practices and norms. Thus, childbirth, far from being a conventional act of expulsion of the fetus from the uterus at the end of a full-term or premature pregnancy, takes on a very particular conception translated into various symbols and beliefs; the wealth of the group, the security of the family union, a rite of passage, the deification of the members of the community, securing of the Bëne people, tsin aï ngalna metum (perpetuation of the cultural essence), etc. Maternal deaths, on the other hand, are not simply the loss of a woman, a mother, a member of the group, but are conceived as a social illness, a community sentence, a transition, a mystical phenomenon, a degradation of the culture, etc. Maternal mortality among the Bëne in Mfou is therefore an ethno-significant model that calls for awareness of the risk within the community, improvement of the determinants of maternal health, male and female accountability, and respect for the cultural norms in force.