Women's health custom made: building on the 40 days postpartum for Arab women.

The 40-day postpartum period is characterised in the Middle East and elsewhere by an observance of seclusion, congratulatory visiting, the reciprocal exchange of gifts and money, and a special diet. Based on primary data from in-depth interviews among the Negev Bedouin in Israel, health enhancing practices are reviewed. The data are a subset from a larger study carried out in this setting. Often postnatal checkups, family planning counselling, and immunization services may not be routinely available or used. It is argued that these health services could be provided at the end of the 40-day period for mother and child, as in a pilot study in Tunisia some years ago. Health service provision would thus build on the health enhancing practices of the 40-day period.