Health and Health Care in Developing Countries

by Conrad, Peter; Gallagher, Eugene B.

• ISBN13: 9781566390279
• ISBN10: 1566390273
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1993-06-15
• Publisher: Temple Univ Pr

Summary

In this seminal collection of articles on health care in the Third World, sociological perspectives are applied to medical issues in revealing ways. Fourteen essays (all but two of which are original to this volume) examine the social production of health, disease, and systems of care throughout the developing world. The volume covers a range of areas-central Africa, Nigeria, Singapore, Taiwan, Indonesia, Nepal, China, United Arab Emirates, Oman, and Mexico-and a broad scope of topics, from emergency care, the AIDS epidemic, and women's health care, to public health programs and national health care policies.Contributors address the central question of whether health systems in developing areas should emphasize the role of clinical medicine and individual physicians or community and preventive medical resources. The major health problems face d by these societies-inadequate sanitation, infectious disease, high infant-child mortality, and a lack of family planning-indicate the greater need for health educators and public health workers despite many poor nations' desire for Western doctors. Other topics that are examined include the process of seeking medical aid; the relationship between traditional and modern medicines; medical education, hospital care, and communication between doctors and patients in developing countries; and the relevance and application of sociology in Third World settings.This volume seeks to draw attention to the significance of medical sociology for understanding Third World health problems and to show how examining developing societies may necessitate reframing or modifying some Western sociological notions. In addition, these essays stretch the boundaries of medical sociology to include Third World issues. Author note: Peter Conrad is Professor of Sociology at Brandeis University and the co-author (with Joseph W. Schneider) of Deviance and Medicalization, Expanded Edition (Temple) and Having Epilepsy (Temple).Eugene B. Gallagher is Professor of Medical Sociology at the University of Kentucky.

Author Biography

Peter Conrad is Professor of Sociology at Brandeis University and the co-author (with Joseph W. Schneider) of Deviance and Medicalization (Temple) and Having Epilepsy (Temple).

Table of Contents

Introduction
The Social Production of Disease
The Social Epidemiology of AIDS in Africa: Migrant Labor and Sexually Transmitted Disease	p. 1
Women and Work in Rural Taiwan: Building a Contextual Model Linking Employment and Health	p. 38
Seeking Medical Care
Urgency and Utilization of Emergency Medical Services in Urban Indonesia: A Report and Reflection	p. 57
Ethnicity, Health Behavior, and Modernization: The Case of Singapore	p. 78
Traditional and Modern Medicines
The Contribution of Modern Medicine in a Traditional System: The Case of Nepal	p. 109
Traditional Medicine in Africa: Past, Present, and Future	p. 122
Modern Medicine in Developing Societies
Curricular Goals and Student Aspirations in a New Arab Medical College	p. 135
Family Care Work and Duty in a "Modern" Chinese Hospital	p. 154
A Comparative Analysis of the Culture of Biomedicine: Disclosure and Consequences for Treatment in the Practice of Oncology	p. 180
Sociopolitics of Health Care
Constraints on Successful Public Health Programs: A View from a Mexican Community	p. 211
Implementing Health for All in Nigeria: Problems and Constraints	p. 228
Applying Social Science Knowledge in Health Settings
Home and Hospital Birthing in Oman: An Observational Study with Recommendations for Hospital Practice	p. 247
Strategies for Connecting Social Science Research to Actions for Better Health	p. 265
Modernization and Medical Care	p. 285
About the Contributors	p. 307
Index	p. 309
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.

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