Table 2 Summary of foods considered taboos during pregnancy and reasons attached to them, Acholi subregion, Northern Uganda, 2022
Taboo foods | Reasons for the ban | Participants who mentioned the taboo foods and reasons |
|---|---|---|
Offals | It causes the umbilical cord to tie around the neck of the fetus | Majority of Pregnant women and Health Care Providers |
Chicken and chicken’s skin | It causes miscarriage and the skin chokes the fetus | Majority of the TBAs, Pregnant mothers and their spouses |
Wild birds | Causes blindness to the fetus | Few pregnant women |
Smoked meat and fish | Causes navel/umbilical cord infection | Majority of the pregnant mothers |
Sugarcane | Causes generalized fetal skin fissure | Majority of the pregnant mothers, TBAs, and VHTs |
Garden egg (‘Tula’) | Skin inflamation to the fetus | Most of the TBAs |
Groundnut | It causes whitish plasters onto the fetal baby | Majority of Pregnant women |
Bush meat | Causes miscarriage | Most of the Rwodi and TBAs |
Mushrooms | It causes miscarriage; infertility in women; and body sores to the fetus | Most of the Rwodi and TBAs |
Honey | It causes macrosomia | Few of the TBAs |
Sour fruits or meals | Causes fetal skin rashes | Few of the TBAs |
Goats meat | To show respect for the men | Few of the TBAs, Rwodi and Spouses of pregnant women |
‘Lalaa’ (the bitter green leafy vegetable) | Causes erectile dysfunction (impotence) to the newborn child | Majority of the TBAs, Pregnant mothers and their spouses |
‘Lamola’ (Hyptis spicigera) also known as the black sesame | Causes fetal blindness | Majority of the TBAs and Pregnant mothers |