Medical Anthropology: Improving Health Through Understanding Human Diversity - Essay Sample

Introduction

Generally, anthropology can be described as the study of humans as well as their cultures and societies. It helps understand the diversity, values, and beliefs of human beings, a factor that significantly aids other disciplines such as medicine. Medical anthropology has experienced unprecedented growth in the recent past (Schultz & Lavenda, 2018). While the role of medicine, both traditional and conventional, is to improve the health of an individual, the definition of health and healthy differ between cultures. Moreover, the social, cultural, and political expectations of people affect their understanding of health and wellness. It has also been shown that some diseases are culture-bound in that their recognition and classification are unique to specific cultures. In light of these factors, an increasing number of anthropologists are applying practices and insights of anthropology to understand and also find solutions to health challenges in various societies. This sub-field is known as medical anthropology. Since medicine is greatly influenced by Western knowledge, medical anthropologists have developed new and non-conventional ways of describing non-Western health systems. Besides, medical anthropologists are divided on whether sickness and health are determined by both cultural and biological factors, or just by biology as held in Western knowledge. However, the anthropological perspective holds that the biological adaptation of human beings to their physical environment is greatly affected by cultural practices. Using this perspective, this paper seeks to discuss the understanding of sickness and health across different cultures.

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Differences in the Occurrence of Disease Across Different Cultures

The difference in the understanding of disease and wellness across different cultures can be explained by the variation in the occurrence of diseases across diverse communities. Owing to this, the study of patterns of diseases among various populations is one of the core objectives of medical anthropologists. Using various demographic and statistical tools, they can distinguish between epidemic and endemic diseases. Epidemic diseases spread across different populations in a short period, while endemic diseases are always found in specific populations (Schultz & Lavenda, 2018). As the study into the field of medical anthropology grew, a new concept, syndemic diseases, was developed. This is a situation where a combination of more than one disease is found in the same population (Schultz & Lavenda, 2018). For instance, it has been shown that AIDS commonly occurs together with substance abuse and violence (Schultz & Lavenda, 2018). Various societal and cultural factors also affect the occurrence and prevalence of diseases in a community. They include social instability, poor nutrition, violence, as well as other environmental challenges. By understanding the relationship between these factors and diseases, medical anthropologists help develop multi-pronged solutions to control and prevent diseases in communities.

The concept of adaptation is also used to help understand the variation in the occurrence of diseases across cultures. Adaptation is defined as the adjustments that an organism undergoes to cope with the prevailing environmental challenges better. While evolutionary biologists strictly limit their attention to biological adaptations, medical anthropologists seek to establish how natural selection is affected by cultural practices. For instance, it has been shown that sickle cell trait is more prevalent in mosquito-borne regions (Schultz & Lavenda, 2018). The condition helps the people resist the malaria parasite and does not cause sickle-cell anemia either. Similarly, research has shown that lactose intolerance is low among populations that traditionally kept cattle (Schultz & Lavenda, 2018). The combination of biological and cultural adaptation led to the emergence of the concept of biocultural adaptation.

Causes of Sickness and Health across Different Cultures

As mentioned earlier, the understanding and interpretation of the causes of diseases vary between cultures. While some cultures adopt an understanding similar to that held by Western knowledge, others believe that sickness is caused by sorcery or witchcraft. Other cultures hold that sickness is a punishment by the community's ancestors for a wrong committed by the living. The understanding of the causes of sickness also affects the therapies used to treat it. For instance, communities that accept the biomedicine approach to health and sickness embrace conventional medicines (Schultz & Lavenda, 2018). On the other hand, cultures that believe that sickness is caused by witchcraft tend to seek spiritual interventions to restore health.

People's religion also significantly affects their view of health and sickness. For instance, Charismatic Christians around the world believe that diseases can be caused by both material entities such as microbes, as well as non-material entities such as demons and spirits (Schultz & Lavenda, 2018). They also believe that they can overcome these entities through the power of prayer and the Holy Spirit. Moreover, they engage in other practices that could be viewed as an illness in Western biomedicine. For instance, they purport to hear the voice of God. In Western biomedicine, this could be taken to be a sign of mental disturbance (Schultz & Lavenda, 2018).

The beliefs of a community can also affect its peoples' understanding of sickness. To prove this, the authors present a study carried out in Recife, Brazil, which has one of the highest prevalence of cervical cancer in the world (Schultz & Lavenda, 2018). The community associated cervical cancer with promiscuity. As such, one of the women interviewed indicated that she had contracted the disease because she had multiple sexual partners. Another indicated that her excessive sexual desire for her husband led to the disease. Unfortunately, such understandings of sickness lead to stereotypes that may, in turn, fuel stigmatization. Resultantly, the treatment of such illnesses is hampered.

Trauma caused by events such as armed conflict, population displacements, and colonial conquest is also used to explain the cause of sickness in different cultures. For instance, a study carried out among the Korwa people of India established that their eviction from the original homeland was often cited as a possible cause of illness (Schultz & Lavenda, 2018). Traditionally, they had resided in the forest and depended on hunting, gathering, and farming. However, they were forcefully evicted from the forests and had to adopt an entirely new lifestyle. They blamed this lifestyle for their sicknesses, some of which could not be confirmed using Western approaches. For instance, they complained of fever, yet their temperatures were normal (Schultz & Lavenda, 2018). In contrast, most of them felt healthy in the forest. Their understanding of health and disease can also be viewed from a spiritual perspective. While in the forest, the people believed that they were protected by their village and family deities. Eviction from the forest, therefore, left them exposed to diseases. Several other cultures across the world also hold the belief that disruption and imbalance between social, natural, and supernatural worlds leads to sickness. Also, to regain health, the Korwa people consulted full healers who used herbs to treat their diseases and exorcise demons (Schultz & Lavenda, 2018). However, the healers were less accessible in the new environment, and hence the people felt more vulnerable to diseases.

Conclusion

As shown in the paper, different communities around the world hold different beliefs regarding health and sickness. The beliefs are largely affected by religions and various social and cultural events. For instance, some cultures believe that supernatural forces cause sickness. As such, they seek spiritual remedies for their illnesses. In some cases, such beliefs can hinder the prevention and treatment of various diseases in the community. Therefore, medical anthropology is essential in that it considers all understanding and interpretation of health and sickness among the cultures when developing strategies to prevent or control diseases.

References

Schultz, E. A., & Lavenda, R. H. (2018). Cultural Anthropology: A Perspective on the Human Condition (10th ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.