Table 1.

Perceived causes of reproductive tract infections among informants reported in seven primarily qualitative studies

Causes of RTIs mentioned by study participants		Pakistan	Bangla-desh	Vietnam	Liberia	South Africa	Uganda	Brazil
		[6]	[7]	[8]	[9]	[10]	[11]	[12]
1. CONTAMINATION WITH GERMS OR UNCLEAN SUBSTANCES THROUGH VARIOUS ROUTES
1.1 Sexual contact with infected persons		No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
1.2 Personal hygiene	Hygiene before and after sexual contact	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	No
	Infrequent washing of genitals, unclean undergarments or towels	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
	Poor hygiene during or after menstruation	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No
	Sharing toilets, dirty toilets	No	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
1.3 Exposure to contaminated physical environment	Exposure to contaminated water	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	No
	Exposure to contaminated soil, dirt or dust carried by air	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No	No
	Stepping in infected urine	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No
1.4 Pubic lice, other biting insects		No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	No
1.5 Surgical procedures: IUD insertion, tubal ligation, induced abortions		Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No
1.6 Intravenous drug use		No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes
2. INTERNAL IMBALANCE
2.1 Diet, dietary imbalance		Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
2.2 Weakness or excessive demands on body	Hard work	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No
	Weakness	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No
	Pregnancy and childbirth	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
3. ACTION OF EXTERNAL AGENTS
3.1 Malevolent spirits		No	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No
3.2 Will of God, Nature's will		Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
3.3 Witchcraft and sorcery		No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	No