article
Knowledge and use of herbal contraceptives in a Peruvian Amazon village
Human organization : journal of the Society for Applied Anthropology • 35 (1) • Published In 1976 • Pages: 9-19
By: Hern, Warren M..
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
A 1964 health study of the Peruvian Amazon Indian village of Paococha revealed the knowledge and use of herbal preparations alleged to have contraceptive properties. A 1969 follow-up study attempted to document the extent of knowledge and use of these preparations and to make an assessment of their effectiveness. Among other things, the village was found to have the highest fertility recorded for any human group. Over 50% of all females aged 15 or more were aware of herbal contraceptives and 43% of the women between the ages of 20 and 54 had actually used them. There was a significant desire to limit fertility as evidenced by the large number of women who actually reported behavior aimed at limiting fertility. However, comparison of fertility in women who had and had not used herbal contraceptives revealed no support for the hypothesis that the herbal preparations are effective. An earlier linkage with practices such as postpartum sexual abstinence is postulated as the source of belief in the effectiveness of herbal contraceptives (p. 9).
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Pharmaceuticals
- Conception
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Shipibo
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2002
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- South America
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Amazon and Orinoco
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- article
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Physician
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- John Beierle ; 2001
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1964, 1969
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1964, 1969
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- village of Paococha, Ucayali River area, Peru
- NotesAdditional notes
- Warren M. Hern
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 19)
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 47033317
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Shipibo-Conibo Indians