The social meanings of a child with sickle cell disease in Ghana : fathers' reactions and perspectives / by Jemima Araba Dennis-Antwi.

"Overall, the thesis emphasises that the experiences of fathers of children with SCD in Ghana can best be explained by a sociological analysis that incorporates an understanding of their expressed perceptions of the challenges bringing up a child with SCD within a wider socio-cultural context greatly influenced by factors such as the formal and informal stages of courtship and marriage on negotiations of responsibility for children; the integral cultural imperative to bear children; negotiating gender roles in the household division of labour; the structural limitations imposed by a fee-for service treatment for SCD in Ghana; the widespread stigmatisation of SCD as a 'bought' disease; the construction of an understanding of SCD through a supernatural worldview; and the role of organised religion in shaping conceptions of marriage, sexual relations and attitudes to SCD and prenatal diagnosis."--From Abstract, page 2.