Anthropology in Public Health: Bridging Differences in Culture and Society - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 019511955X ISBN 13: 9780195119558

Publisher: OUP USA, 1999

Synopsis

Cultural and social boundaries often separate those who participate in public health activities, and it is a major challenge to translate public health knowledge and technical capacity into public health action across these boundaries. This book provides an overview of anthropology and illustrates in 15 case studies how anthropological concepts and methods can help us understand and resolve diverse public health problems around the world. For example, one chapter shows how differences in concepts and terminology among patients, clinicians, and epidemiologists in a southwestern U. S. county hinder the control of epidemics. Another chapter examines reasons that Mexican farmers don't use protective equipment when spraying pesticides and suggests ways to increase use. Another examines the culture of international health agencies, demonstrates institutional values and practices that impede effective public health practice, and suggests issues that must be addressed to enhance institutional organization and process. Each chapter characterizes a public health problem, describes methods used to analyse it, reviews results, and discusses implications; several chapters also describe and evaluate programs designed to address the problem on the basis of anthropological knowledge. The book provides practical models and indicates anthropological tools to translate public health knowledge and technical capacity into public health action.

About this title

Review

This book is oriented towards public health practitioners, and, as befits the supremely pragmatic orientation of that field, it is a very helpful compendium of the applications of medical anthropology to solve specific problems. As a collection of case studies, it is probably without peer. It is broader in orientation than either Trostle's Epidemiology and Culture (Cambridge University Press, 1995) or Nichter's Global Health: Why Cultural Perceptions, Social Representations, and Biopolitics Matter (University of Arizona Press, 2008). (Doody's)

About the Author

Marcia C. Inhorn, PhD, MPH, is William K. Lanman Jr. Professor of Anthropology and International Affairs and Chair, Council on Middle East Studies, MacMillan Center, Yale University

Edition details

• Publisher: OUP USA
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 019511955X
• ISBN 13: 9780195119558
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 406
• Editor: Hahn Robert A.