Anthropological Perspectives on Medicine and Public Health

Abstract

Some cultural anthropologists, when they do health-related research, investigate the role of sociocultural factors in the origin and prevalence of specific disease entities, particularly among ethnic minorities and people of divergent cultures. Others study the effect of cultural and social dif ferences on the outcome of public-health programs carried out in intercultural settings. Directors of health programs, as agents of social change and community development, should understand the nature of certain gaps that recurrently impede realization of program objectives. One is the cultural gap, which complicates communication and leads to the selective acceptance of offered innovations, owing to differences in cultural values and in culturally conditioned assumptions about the cause of illness. Another is the status gap between the health team and the public and between the ruling elites and their people. Still another is the urban-adjustment gap created by the influx of rural population into the cities. Com pared to the sums of money spent on basic medical research and program operations in the field, the amount available for studying the human aspects of health-improvement programs and other phases of community development is disappointingly small. This imbalance constitutes the research gap.