THE ROLE AND IMPORTANCE OF AVIATION FUEL IN THE HEALTH-SEEKING BEHAVIOR OF CHILD MIGRANTS LIVING ALONG THE UGANDA–KENYA BORDER AT BUSIA
Abstract
This study aimed to understand the health-seeking behaviors of the child migrants, commonly known as Chokola, who live along the Uganda–Kenya border at the town of Busia. The study used qualitative data collection methods: in-depth interviews, life-histories, focus group discussions, and key informant interviews. At the border, Chokola are accorded a marginal status and identity, limiting their health rights. Chokola face many health challenges, some of which arise from risky sexual behaviors and practices. Their health problems include gonorrhea, HIV, malaria, and cholera. The Chokola in our study exhibited specific health-seeking behaviors, with sniffing aviation fuel being the most pronounced. Although this practice was intended to alleviate common ailments and discomfort, it was also reported to have side effects ranging from loss of appetite to early death. Sniffing aviation fuel as a health-seeking behavior is a construction of individuals. Chokola constructions of the efficacy of aviation fuel are inculcated during socialization and are supported by a shared belief in the fuel as a panacea. Scientific views regarding the risks of side effects are irrelevant to them. In terms of access to health services, Chokola are vulnerable and require affirmative action and targeted interventions.
Downloads
Metrics
References
Abrams, D. (2001). Psychology of social identity. In N. J. Smelser & P. B. Baltes (Eds.), International encyclopedia of social and behavioral sciences (pp. 14306–14309). Elsevier Science and Technology.
Alhojailan, M. I. (2012). Thematic analysis: A critical review of its process and evaluation. West East Journal of Social Sciences, 1(1), 39–47.
Bah, Y. M. (2018). Drug abuse among street children [Case report]. Mathews Journal of Case Reports, 3(1), 1–11. https://www.mathewsopenaccess.com/full-text/drug-abuse-among-streetchildren
Barth, F. (Ed.). (1969). Ethnic groups and boundaries: The social organization of culture difference. Universitetsforlaget.
Bhabha, J., & Abel, G. (2019). Children and unsafe migration. In M. McAuliffe & B. Khadria (Eds.), World migration report 2020 (pp. 231–251). International Organization for Migration. https://publications.iom.int/system/files/pdf/wmr_2020.pdf https://doi.org/10.18356/e576571c-en
Biehl, J., & Petryna, A. (2014). A Saúde Global centrada nas pessoas [People-centered global health]. Saude e Sociedade, 23(2), 376–389. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0104-12902014000200003
Birungi, R., Nabembenzi, D., & Kiwanuka, J., Ybarra, M., & Bull, S. (2011). Perceptions of sex coercion among the Mbarara adolescents: Implications for an internet based intervention program. African Journal of AIDS Research, 10(4), 487–494. https://doi.org/10.2989/16085906.2011.646664
Boyle, J. (1994). Styles of ethnography. In J. M. Morse (Ed.), Critical issues in qualitative research methods (pp. 159–185). Sage.
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa
Brewer, M. B., & Campbell, D. T. (1976). Ethnocentrism and intergroup attitudes: East African evidence. Sage. Brewer, J. D. (2000). Ethnography. McGraw-Hill Education.
Bruner, E. M. (1997). Ethnography as narrative. In L. P. Hinchman & S. K. Hinchman (Eds.), Memory, identity, community: The idea of narrative in the human sciences (pp. 264–280). State University of New York Press.
Daly, N.(2017, July 6). NT children sniffing 'unsniffable' fuel have blood lead levels higher than previously thought. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-06/higher-blood-lead-levels-for-ntids-sniffing-fuel/8676550
Digidiki, V., & Bhabha, J. (2023). The hidden costs of unaccompanied child migration. The International Journal of Children's Rights, 31(1), 114–136. https://doi.org/10.1163/15718182-31010002
Dinos, S., Ascoli, M., Owiti, J. A., & Bhui, K. (2017). Assessing explanatory models and health beliefs: An essential but overlooked competency for clinicians. BJPsych Advances, 23(2), 106–114. https://doi.org/10.1192/apt.bp.114.013680
Fabrega, H. (1974). Disease and social behavior: An interdisciplinary perspective. The MIT Press.
Foster, G. M., & Anderson, B. G. (1978). Medical anthropology. John Wiley & Sons.
Geertz, C. (1973). The interpretation of cultures (Vol. 5043). Basic Books.
Ghane, S., Kolk, A. M., & Emmelkamp, P. M. G. (2010). Assessment of explanatory models of mental illness: Effects of patient and interviewer characteristics. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 45(2), 175–182. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-009-0053-1
Hashim, I. (2007). Independent child migration and education in Ghana. Development and change, 38(5), 911–931. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7660.2007.00439.x
Hashim, I., & Thorsen, D. D. (2011). Child migration in Africa. Zed Books, Nordiska Afrikainstitutet.
Heldal, E., Kuyvenhoven, J., Wares, F., Migliori, G. B., Ditiu, L., Fernandez de la Hoz, K., & Garcia, D. (2008). Diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis in undocumented migrants in low- or intermediate-incidence countries [Workshop report]. The International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, 12(8), 878–888.
Helman, C. G. (1990). Culture, health and illness: An introduction for health professionals. CRC. International Organization for Migration (IOM). (2018). Mapping and size estimation of key populations in Somaliland [Final report July 2016]. https://publications.iom.int/system/files/pdf/mapping_and_size_estimation_somaliland.pdf
International Organization for Migration (IOM). (2014). Glossary on migration.
Kirmayer, L. J., & Bhugra, D. (2009). Culture and mental illness: Social context and explanatory models. In I. M. Salloum & J. E. Mezzich (Eds.), Psychiatric diagnosis: Patterns and prospects. Wiley-Blackwell. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470743485.ch3
Kleinman, A. (1980). Patients and healers in the context of culture: An exploration of the borderland between anthropology, medicine, and psychiatry (Vol. 3). University of California Press.
Kleinman, A., Eisenberg, L., & Good, B. (1978). Culture, illness and care: Clinical lessons from anthropological and cross-cultural research. Annals of Internal Medicine, 88(2), 251–258. https://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-88-2-251
Maguire, M., & Delahunt, B. (2017). Doing a thematic analysis: A practical, step-by-step guide for learning and teaching scholars. All Ireland Journal of Higher Education, 9(3), Article 335.
Mahurpawar, M. (2015). Effects of heavy metals on human health. International Journal of Research -GRANTHAALAYAH, 3(9SE), 1–7. https://doi.org/10.29121/granthaalayah.v3.i9SE.2015.3282
Nakanjako, R., Onyango, E. O., & Kabumbuli, R. (2021). Positioning migrants in informal cross border trade: The case of Busia, Uganda-Kenya border. Eastern Africa Social Science Research Review, 37(1), 123–143. https://doi.org/10.1353/eas.2021.0005
Padilla, A. M., & Perez, W. (2003). Acculturation, social identity, and social cognition: A new perspective. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 25(1), 35–55. https://doi.org/10.1177/0739986303251694
Reeves, S., Peller, J., Goldman, J.,& Kitto, S. (2013). Ethnography in qualititative educational research: AMEE Guide No. 80. Medical Teacher, 35(8), e1365–e1379. https://doi.org/10.3109/0142159X.2013.804977
Salami, B., Fernandez-Sanchez, H., Fouche, C., Evans, C., Sibeko, L., Tulli, M., Bulaong, A., Kwankye, S. O., Ani-Amponsah, M., Okeke-Ihejirika, P., Gommaa, H., Agbemenu, K., Ndikom, C. M., & Richter, S. (2021). A scoping review of the health of African immigrant and refugee children. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(7), Article 3514. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18073514
Stites, E., & Akabwai, D. (2012). Life in town: Migration from rural Karamoja to Moroto and Mbale. Feinstein International Center, Tufts University.
Stoesslé, P., González-Salazar, F., Santos-Guzmán, J., & Sánchez-González, N. (2015). Risk factors and current health-seeking patterns of migrants in northeastern Mexico: Healthcare needs for a socially vulnerable population. Frontiers in Public Health, 3(Aug), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2015.00191
Strebhardt, K., & Ullrich, A. (2008). Paul Ehrlich's magic bullet concept: 100 years of progress. Nature Reviews Cancer 8, 473–480. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrc2394
Taffa, N., & Chepngeno, G. (2005). Determinants of health care seeking for childhood illnesses in Nairobi slums. Tropical Medicine & International Health, 10(3), 240–245. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-3156.2004.01381.x
Tajfel, H. (1972). Social categorization. English manuscript of “La catégorization sociale” in S. Moscovici, Introduction a la psychologie sociale (Vol. 1; pp. 272–302). Larousse.
Tajfel, H., & Turner, J. (1979). An integrative theory of intergroup conflict. In W. G. Austin & S. Worchel (Eds.), The Social Psychology of Intergroup Relations (pp. 33–47). Brooks Cole.
Turner, J. C., Hogg, M. A., Oakes, P. J., Reicher, S. D., & Wetherell, M. S. (1987). Rediscovering the social group: A self-categorization theory. Basil Blackwell.
UNICEF. (2019). “No mother wants her child to migrate”: Vulnerability of children on the move in the Horn of Africa (June 2019). Retrieved on 07/02/2023 from https://reliefweb.int/report/world/no-mother-wants-her-child-migrate-vulnerability-childrenmove-horn-africa-june-2019
van Gennep, A. (1960). The rites of passage. Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Ward, H., Mertens, T. E., & Thomas, C. (1997). Health seeking behaviour and the control of sexually transmitted disease. Health Policy and Planning, 12(1), 19–28. https://doi.org/10.1093/heapol/12.1.19
Yin, R. K. (2011). Qualitative research from start to finish. Guilford Press.
Authors contributing to the International Journal of Child, Youth and Family Studies agree to release their articles under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 Unported license. This licence allows anyone to share their work (copy, distribute, transmit) and to adapt it for non-commercial purposes provided that appropriate attribution is given, and that in the event of reuse or distribution, the terms of this license are made clear.
Authors retain copyright of their work and grant the journal right of first publication.
Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
Rights Granted After Publication
After publication, authors may reuse portions or the full article without obtaining formal permission for inclusion within their thesis or dissertation.
Permission for these reuses is granted on the following conditions:
- that full acknowledgement is made of the original publication stating the specific material reused [pages, figure numbers, etc.], [Title] by/edited by [Author/editor], [year of publication], reproduced by permission of International Journal of Child, Youth & Family Studies [link to IJCYFS website];
- In the case of joint-authored works, it is the responsibility of the author to obtain permission from co-authors for the work to be reuse/republished;
- that reuse on personal websites and institutional or subject-based repositories includes a link to the work as published in the International Journal of Child, Youth & Family Studies; and that the material is not distributed under any kind of Open Access style licences (e.g. Creative Commons) which may affect the Licence between the author and IJCYFS.
