Epidemiological Anthropology — 2014 Paper I

Approach

• Demand of Question: Explain Epidemiological Anthropology as the anthropological study of distribution and determinants of disease in cultural and ecological contexts.
• Structuring the Response: Define the field, identify its biocultural perspective, and show its relevance to disease transmission and health behaviour.
• Key Dimensions to Cover: Disease patterns, culture, ecology, behaviour, host-agent-environment, infectious disease and social determinants.

Model Answer

Introduction: Epidemiological Anthropology combines epidemiology with anthropological approaches to understand how biological, cultural, ecological and social factors influence the distribution of disease in human populations.

Classical epidemiology examines:

Host + Agent + Environment

Anthropology adds:

Culture + Behaviour + Social organization

It studies how disease patterns are affected by:

• subsistence;
• settlement;
• migration;
• diet;
• sanitation;
• occupation;
• health beliefs.

For example, infectious-disease transmission may depend upon:

• crowding;
• food habits;
• mobility;
• water use.

Similarly, non-communicable diseases such as obesity, diabetes and hypertension can be linked with:

• nutritional transition;
• reduced physical activity;
• psychosocial stress.

Anthropological fieldwork also explains why communities may accept or reject:

• vaccination;
• biomedical treatment;
• public-health programmes.

Thus:

Disease distribution = Biological exposure + Cultural behaviour + Social environment

Conclusion: Epidemiological Anthropology provides a biocultural explanation of disease, making epidemiological data more meaningful by locating health patterns within the actual ecological and cultural contexts of populations.