Negotiating care: reproductive tract infections in Vietnam

Through case studies of two women, this paper uses a taskonomy approach to analyze rural Vietnamese women's narratives of prevention, treatment and management of vaginal discharge to illustrate care seeking, health practice and the pragmatism of their action. The research is based upon ethnographic research undertaken by the author between 1995 and 1997 in a rural district in northern Vietnam. This exploration illustrates the complexities of women's rationalities and the web of influences upon their choices-the health seeking culture as practiced. The women's narratives are also placed within the broader context of gender, power and health systems that structure their decision making. The author discusses how social and economic resource factors influence the choices women make regarding when to begin treatment for vaginal discharge and where to seek care. She concludes that women use their understanding of the relationships between health, living conditions and diseases on a day-to-day basis and that the practice of managing vaginal discharge is mediated by concepts of body, self and the body politic in Vietnam.