Table 3. Parents and guardians accounts on anticipated barriers to the performance of MITS on their deceased children.

Themes and categories	Illustrative quotes
Conforming to the norm of burying the child immediately     • Requirement to bury a “hot body”–representing a physically and spiritually preserved body     • Requirement to bury in “fresh soil”–representing a location that preserves the physical and spiritual integrity	“The burial must be done while the body is still “hot” and the weather is fresh…so early in the morning or at the sun set.”–grandmother of a deceased neonate
Secrecy of perinatal deaths     • Limited number and specific set of people that should be notified and know about the death     • Confining consent and MITS performance to a private location (e.g.: the house of the deceased)	“It [MITS] should be done at home because it has to be a family secret.”–grandmother of a stillborn The burial was done less tan 24h after death and no one was informed; just three people, the mother, myself, and a neighbour, took part. To take samples [MITS], the community leader should go with the team in charge of doing it to the family house, without others in the neighbourhood knowing–grandmother of a deceased neonate “The baby died in the hospital and the grandmother brought him back home, almost immediately after death, without me seeing the baby and without telling me what would happen next [ceremonies]”—mother of a deceased neonate
Decision making complexity	“I would accept it [MITS] but it is my husband’s decision to accept or not.”–mother of a stillborn
No value in investigating the cause of death     • Cause of death investigation in tension with the normative of seeking the cause of illness instead of the cause of death     • Can cause further agony from recalling the loss     • The results will not reverse the death situation     • Doubts about the agenda and importance of investigation on cause of death	“It clashes with tradition because tradition does not look for diseases after death.”–grandmother of a deceased neonate “To know the cause of death just will make me feel more pain in my heart. . . the child is already dead. What is going to be done with this information?”–mother of a deceased child