Network of nomads: negotiating access to health resources among pastoralist women in Chad

Health resources among pastoralist groups are strongly gendered and while certain health resources fall within the female domain (e.g. home-based treatment, caring and supportive roles, and knowledge surrounding particular reproductive conditions),access to most outside health practitioners, treatments and knowledge is controlled largely by men.The paper argues that for pastoralist women, this means that actions taken during illness episodes depend on a series of factors such as:the nature and quality of social support systems available (e.g. husband, male and female kin and friends)women's life cycle and position within domestic and wider social unitswomen's ability to access and mobilise these different support systems for their health needsMoreover, seasonal mobility interacts with gender and social support systems to affect women's access to health resources and whilst at certain times of the year women enjoy relatively easy access to a large range of extended kin and other social contacts, at times when people are very dispersed, options become more limited, often resulting in illness treatment being delayed. However, in terms of health policy and practice considerations the author states that dealing purely with the issues of mobility (e.g., setting up mobile clinics, or encouraging the settlement of nomadic populations) will not necessarily result in improved access to health services for pastoralist women as it is necessary also to understand the social context of control and distribution of health resources.The paper recommends further long-term work to shed light on the ways in which women's social networks, change over the course of a year and the ways these impact on illness management.