Critical Medical Anthropology

• Critical medical anthropology focuses on how economics and politics shape the overall status of human health
• Critical medical anthropology addresses the disparities in the quality of health and care in the presence of social inequalities
• Social divisions based on race, ethnicity, gender, and class can influence access to health care and susceptibility to disease
• Critical medical anthropologists acknowledge social factors when looking at the prevalence of a particular disease and ways to prevent it
• In a 1998 study of inner-city Hispanic children, critical medical anthropologist Merrill Singer found that food insecurity and hunger were prevalent conditions
• Identifying variables associated with food insecurity and hunger can determine risk factors for policy makers to improve food programs and public health policy
• Critical medical anthropologists critique bio-medical practices to decrease health problems such as hunger, malnutrition, and disease to promote wellness
• Distributions of wealth & power and divisions of labor affect disease patterns and health care access
• Socio-cultural conditions that facilitate the "success" of a disease continue to prevail in a society at specific points in time
• Political economy approach emphasizes the importance of political & economic forces in shaping health, disease, illness experience, & health care
• This approach stresses the importance of historical processes, structural forces, and institutions in shaping economic outcomes
• It studies the relationship between individuals and society, and more specifically, the relationships between citizens and states