Children’s matters Negotiating illness in everyday interactions at home and school in Ghana

Focusing on sensations of not feeling well or illness complaints that have not yet been given a diagnosis by a health professional, this research asks how children in an adult-centered and pluralistic context of health care negotiate their illness experiences at home and school. The ways in which children actively construct, frame and deal with their illness, and the role their social position (gender and social class) in the Ghanaian context plays in this process is explored. The research highlights how children intentionally navigate relations and interactions with adults, make use of their social and physical environment to contest, self-diagnose, self-medicate and to deal with their sensations of not feeling well.