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In this article, we will examine how social and cultural factors of health are tied with biological factors. The comparative and holistic study of culture can have an impact on health and health-seeking behavior, and it can shape who we are culturally and socially.
B. McMahan and M. Nichter in their 2011 analysis “Medical Anthropology”
define medical anthropology as the following:
Medical anthropology is an interdisciplinary subfield of anthropology with a long history of research on environmental health-related issues, especially those pertaining to human health within environments of risk, consequences of ecological degradation, and the way patterns of development and globalization impact environmental (and therefore human) health. [2]
It is said that many are uninformed about anthropology’s connection to medicine, and that a
greater understanding of it can “contribute to informing public health policy decisions [1]. Anthropology studies how health and illness play physical and cultural roles for different populations, and “proffers inspiring theories and methods” from the findings in its studies [2,3].
Ethnographic research is a part of the work of medical anthropologists [2]. It involves
the “study of behavior, thought, and speech in context; participant observation; in-depth
interviews with multiple stakeholders occupying different positions of power in social
formations; life histories and case studies; and historical and archival analysis [2]. Such research
involves “surveys, sorting exercises, and focus groups, as well as standardized instruments, which generate biological, biometric, psychometric, and epidemiological data as relevant to research questions at hand,” [2].
Medical anthropologists have the resources to assist their study of environmental health, which is defined as something that involves “health/health care–related outcomes best understood in relation to the physical, social, political, economic, and communication environments in which they occur,” [3]. Considering anthropology’s involvement in cultural diversity, global health is considered a “cultural issue involving every ethnic group and individual living on this planet. Therefore, the global health system should be established under local cultural considerations, that is, based on the local cultural values and realities,” [3].
Medical anthropology helps us understand patients, health care, and how people in different cultures and social groups define and explain cause of illness. It can draw upon different subfields such as social, cultural, biological, and linguistic to better understand the factors that can influence health and wellbeing, the distribution of illness, the prevention and treatment of sickness, and the healing process [2]. Research can solve practical problems in a variety of fields. It examines the ways that health and illness are culturally constructed. The approach to study of health and illness analyzes the impact of inequality, and stratification within systems of power on individual and group health outcomes [3].
References:
1. Campbell D. (2011). Anthropology's Contribution to Public Health Policy Development. McGill journal of medicine: MJM: an international forum for the advancement of medical sciences by students, 13(1), 76.
2. McMahan, B., & Nichter, M. (2011). Medical Anthropology. Encyclopedia of Environmental Health, 274–281. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-444-63951-6.00541-6
3. Ji, R., & Cheng, Y. (2021). Thinking global health from the perspective of anthropology. Global health research and policy, 6(1), 47. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41256-021-00233-z
Contributors:
Writers: Sara Giarnieri and Diya Jacob
Editor: Sara Giarnieri
Health scientist: Kanaka Maha Lakshmi Vithanala
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