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MEDICAL SOCIOLOGY & ANTHRO

POLOGY
Mtuya, c.
Medical sociology
• Provides a wider, societal frame of reference, t
hat addresses why certain groups are more vul
nerable and less well treated than others in a
given social system.
• Explores “… how diseases could be differentl
y understood, treated and experienced by de
monstrating how disease is a product of social
organisation rather than, nature, biology or in
dividual lifestyle choices” White (2002) (p. 4)
Anthropology

• The term anthropology comes from Greek:


anthropos = man/humanity
logia = study

• anthropos + logia = anthropology


Anthropology = The study of humanity
Medical Anthropology

Medical Anthropology examines how society a


nd culture impact health and well-being.
Medical Anthropology
Medical Anthropology
..how people in different cultures and social grou
ps explain the cause of ill-health,
• The type of treatments they believe in, and to
whom they turn if they do become ill.. Hellma
n, 2000
• The cultural construction of illness, illness exp
erience, the body, and medical knowledge…”
Lindenbaum & Lock, 1993.
• A central concern of anthropologists is the appl
ication of knowledge to the solution of human
problems.
Medical Anthropology cont....
• Medical anthropology aim to provide a new u
nderstanding of health and illness especially h
ealth related beliefs and behaviors
• Many may take the form of qualitative
Example, Circumcision
• International health and human rights organizat
ions promote the health benefits linked to male
circumcision,

• Reducing the risk of a variety of diseases includi


ng, penile carcinoma, urinary tract infections, se
xually transmitted infections and HIV infection
(Moses, Bailey and Ronald 1998:368).
Circumcision cont...
• In contrast, frequently cited potential health complica
tions associated with female circumcision include, he
morrhage, shock, infection, tetanus, urine retention,
obstructed labor e.t.c (Shell-Duncan 2008:226).
• These distinctions in health benefit versus risk betwe
en male and female circumcision has prompted inter
national health organizations to promote the male cir
cumcision while opposing female genital cutting.

Health care pluralism (HCP)
A tendency where by suffering people from ph
ysical disconfort or emotional distress in a give
n setting depending on more than one therau
petic options such as helping themselves or se
eking help from other people.
• Basic Questions in HCP
• What range of theraupetic options are available in ou
r societies?
• How and why choices are made between the various
options?
Health care pluralism
• People may decide to take rest, or home remedy, ask ad
vise from a friend/neigbour, relative, consult a doctor, lo
cal priest, folk healer or wise person.

• Modern urbanized sociesties tend to exhibit health care


pluralism. These theraupetic modes co-exist and they ar
e often based on entirely different premises and may ori
ginate from different cultures.

• To the ill person, the origin of these treatments is less im


portant than their efficacy in relieving suffering
The Key Concepts in Medical Anthro
pology
• Health Care System /Health Sectors
The Professional sector
The Folk or Traditional sector
The Popular Sector
The three health sector
• Are overlaping and interconnected
• Have its own ways of explaining and treating il
l health,
• Defining who is the healer patient should inter
act in their therapeutic encounter and who is t
he patients
• Specify how should healer and patient interact
in their therapeutic encounter
The Folk or Traditional sector
• Traditional healers Herbalists, witchdoctors

• Spiritualists

• Fortune tellers
Folk or Traditional Sector
• Healer who are Sacred or Secular or mixture of the t
wo at the temple or home
• They are not part of the official medical system
• The occupy the intermediate position between the p
opular and professionals
• Types: midwives, tooth extractor, herbalist, spiritual
healers, shamans, voodoo.
• Deal with illness believed to be due to sorcery, divine
punishment, eg curses etc
• They are familiar with culture, beliefs and the world v
iew of communities
The Professional sector
• Known as biomedicine
• Organized legally sanctioned healing profession
• Comprises of physician and paramedical profession n
urses, midwives, physiotherapist
• Highly expensive, scarce providers, reach small propo
rtion of population, urban based
• Health care system are dominated by country‘s poli
tical ideology
• Health as basic right VS commonity to be bought
• Physician-centred,Process-oriented, Cridential-orient
ed,Not wholistic.
The Popular Sector
• 70-90%.Lay, non-professional, non- specialist domain o
f society.
• First ill health is recognized and defined.
• Therapeutic options done without consulting folk or pro
fessionals, Self treatment, self medication,
• Advice or treatment by relatives/Family, neighbour, frie
nd or workmate or person experienced the same proble
m
• Informal an unpaid healing realtionships, with extensive
expereince of a certain life events (women raised many
children), spouses of health providers.
References
1. Neeraja, KP.(2006) Textbook of Sociology for Nursing studen
ts first edition Jaypee Brothers medical publishers.

2. Helman CG (2001), Culture Health and Illness, 4th edition, A


rnold

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