Paper short abstract:

Based on two qualitative studies conducted in urban areas in Senegal and in Benin, this communication intends to report popular, "traditional" and biomedical practices which the women develop in front of the uncertainty of their pregnancy and their delivery in these contexts.

Paper long abstract:

Based on two qualitative studies (interviews, observations) conducted in urban areas in Senegal (Pikine) and in Benin (Cotonou) with pregnant women or having given birth recently, this communication intends to report popular, "traditional" and biomedical practices which the women develop in front of the uncertainty of their pregnancy and their delivery in these contexts. It could be about the respect for dietary restrictions or concerning certain activities, as well as the respect of biomedical recommendations or of those made by traditional healers or religious people, these perceptions and practices highlight in Benin and in Senegal the anxiety which the women develop in front of their delivery and of the birth of their child. The social and health inequalities that these events underline worldwide are just incredible.

Nevertheless, certain differences appear between these two societies of western Africa. While in Senegal, appears clearly a duality between a biomedical health offer and a "traditional" one, in Benin the privatization of the biomedecine and the commoditization of pregnancy is at stake.

In both countries however, a possible bad outcome of the pregnancy (more or less important complications at the time of the delivery) is linked inevitably to the responsibility of the women. It could be by their social background, by professionals of the biomedecine whom they consulted or still by themselves. The biomedicalization of the pregnancy widely accepted and wished by the urban women of these two countries is far from offering this day a satisfactory answer to these very justifiable fears.