Interfacing anthropology and epidemiology: the Bedouin Arab Infant Feeding Study

This paper encapsulates a 10 year effort of multi-disciplinary research on the relationship between infant feeding, growth, and morbidity among the Negev Bedouin Arabs of Israel as they underwent a transition from semi-nomadism to urban settlement. The research team was multi-disciplinary including a nutritional epidemiologist and an anthropologist who both came to the study with previous experience in interdisciplinary work. The specific study objectives were (1) a description of infant feeding practices among Negev Bedouin Arab women at various stages of settlement, (2) an examination of the trend in these infant feeding practices, (3) a comparison of the extent to which different infant feeding practices are related to infant morbidity and growth after adjustment for exposure to social change and other covariates. The data collection took place in 1981-83 and the analysis from 1984-88. In this paper, two areas of the study are discussed in depth: the duration of exclusive breast feeding during the practice of the traditional postpartum 40 day rest period, and the development of a culture-specific scale of socioeconomic status. Through these examples, we highlight the use of ethnographic data and the merging of epidemiology and anthropology from hypothesis generation through data collection, data analysis and interpretation.