The Normalization of Childhood Disease: An Ethnographic Study of Child Malnutrition in Rural Guatemala

Guatemala has one of the highest rates of child stunting in the world; the indigenous Maya population, who constitute a majority, are disproportionately affected in comparison to the general population. Nevertheless, research on the social dynamics of malnutrition in Maya communities is lacking. To address this deficiency, we present here an ethnographic study of caregivers' experiences of child malnutrition in two rural indigenous towns, supplemented by quantitative data collection on rates of child malnutrition in both study sites. Our research documents the ways in which child malnutrition is a normalized total experience for communities and caregivers, heavily influenced by local and structural inequalities, and we explore the policy implications of our findings for effective child nutrition programming.