As the title of article states, Dr. Mayer suggests that political ecology as a new coherent analytical framework over traditional perspective of political economy and cultural ecology in terms of understanding the conditions of disease. Furthermore, "most broadly, the political ecological approach seeks to understand the unintended consequences of environmental decisions, and particularly those consequences that alter human–environment relations" (Mayer, 2006. Appendix C). Dr. Mayer also notes in his article "the integration of power into the understanding of disease dynamic has thus been neglected from several dimensions, and the article represents and attempt at developing a framework for such integration" (Mayer, 1996. p. 443). Dr. Mayer mentions that the traditional approaches of medical geography comprise "studies of health service delivery and studies of disease patterns" (Mayer, 1990). He also states that environment is an important external factor that influence "the functioning of local systems." However, he emphasizes that environment doesn 't always mean some physical condition but it include also conditions that are created by economic and political interests as factors in development and increase of disease. In other words, political power would influence disease condition, and this is the exact point of using the political ecology approach. He argues that the use of political ecology of disease as a new approach for studying medical geography including the
It may be said that the institution of power has always been a prevalent force in our
In this assignment I hope to effectively discuss and evaluate the patterns and trends associated with health and illness within the higher and lower social classes. I am going to do this by discussing and evaluating the following explanations and perspectives within sociology; Artefact explanation, Natural or Social Selection explanation, Cultural or Behavioural explanation and Materialist or Structuralist explanation.
The socio medical model of health centres/focuses on the social and environmental factors that contribute to society`s health and well being. This model considers social factors in which it upon the impact of
This is evident in how the film frames health issues, framing them from a social and environmental perspective. With an ecological model in mind, the film shows that interactions from individuals, to society, to environment can impact health. Furthermore, it shows how ecological and environmental factors can intrinsically be health determinants.
The report is about the ecosystem and its effect on human health. That is, it is talking about the “escalating human pressure on global environment” (WHO, 2005).
Diseases can cause a devastating effect on both the human body, and also the human population. Throughout several time periods of the present and past, diseases have caused a humongous impact in several society's in different countries around the world. Several large pandemics and epidemics have killed off the population of many species including humans and primates. Wether the time period is in the present or as far back as the Middle Ages, each and every one of these diseases, have had a life threatening outbreak, across several developing countries. Three known diseases have all created a huge conflict on different civilizations, causing different, unanswered questions to arise. A lot of research has gone into each individual disease, to
Mortality rates: In gender men generally die earlier than women because of many aspects of their life, for instance in general women tend to take care of them self more physically. A lot of women go on diets and a lot of exercise DVDs and detunes are mainly aimed at women. Women in general do try to eat healthy and go on diets whereas men usually aren't very aware of their diet and don’t have much intention on improving it. Women also tend to go to the doctors and seek medical advice more often and have their illnesses diagnosed and treated more often than men. Because women' generally take more care of themselves and do more to keep themselves healthy.
Technological advancement has often outperformed scientific knowledge associated with the causes that determine health. Increasing complications in social organization increase the possibilities by which multiple agents can disturb health, including factors such as those that risk physical health like venomous chemicals or radiation, restricted access to sanitary and pure natural resources, and the infinite amalgamation of them all. Decisions taken in areas apparently detached from health frequently have the prospect to have an impact on people’s health in either positive or negative manner due to a large number of links and connections in modern life. Health is an area comprised of highly intricate systems, which can be accidentally
The main subject that is being displayed in this article is that when college roomates are placed at random this can lead to aggressive behavior like smoking and sexual behavior. Peer influences depend on many things like the predisposition, gender, and the nature behavior. The theoretical approach in this article is that male students are most likely to be more aggressive then female student due to influences from their roommates. Also “roommates effects on smoking are negative among female students and male students who did not smoke before college”(Li). This statement holds true for the main findings of this specific article. Data came from a roommate student that was done through a survey online.
Geographic maldistribution has creates barriers of care to people living in rural areas. Although there is an oversupply of physician specialists in many of the urban healthcare areas around the world, while the inner cities and rural community are struggling to attract healthcare physician professional to provide high quality care to the local population. “The supply of specialties has increased more than 100% over the last 20 years, while supply of generalists has increased only 18%” (Niles,2014). Any shortage of health workers can prevent good access to health services and is a barrier to universal coverage. The issue of the matter is that maldistribution of health workers between urban and rural is consider to be virtual concern around
The Ecological Model of Health, sometimes also called The Social-Ecological Model, is one of the main models and theories that underpin the practice of health promotion. Defined by the Institute of Medicine as "a model of health that emphasizes the linkages and relationships among multiple factors (or determinants) affecting health”, that ecological framework is based on the premise that no single factor can fully explain the variations, the prevalence and the complexity patterns of diseases, as they are the result of a dynamic interaction of several varied determinants.
Many cultures feel strongly that what happens to them, or their destiny comes from their environment. Giger and Davidhizar’s model states that “Americans believe they control nature to meet their needs and are more likely to seek healthcare when needed” (Giger & Davidhizar 2002). This is not the same in every culture, as some believe that the environment chooses what happens to them based on what they have done in their lives.
Is biopolitics in itself dangerous or does it depend on the power behind it? Are there positive traits that come with biopolitics and if so how else can it be managed if not by the state or corporations? One theorist that tackles the issue of biopolitics is Michel Foucault who defines biopolitics as a social theory which looks at the strategies and tools through which human life processes are managed under authority. According to him sovereignty shifted away from the power to take life away and something new emerged which Foucault called “make live and let die” as the new power because the sovereign shifted away from directly killing people to letting
“Healthy individuals cannot survive when society is sick.” On the other hand, aspects of social structure influence health and illness. Social factors not only affect life expectancy, but the possibilities the one will experience diseases and in turn, the health care that they will receive.
In studying health and disease, it is critical not only to identify what is immediately before us, but also to gain an understanding of the contextual relationship that brought these conditions of sickness or health to bear. Of great significance to the human ecology of disease is this dynamic context of interactions between the human population, our environment, and our cultural behavior and practice (Meade & Emch, 2010; Mayer, 2000). Together, these three form the “triangle of human ecology,” which aims to make associations between various, and quite intricate, networks of human life (Meade and Emch, 2010). The problem is that each vertex of this triangle, representing a distinct complex system, still operates in isolation from the others. And by adhering to this theory alone, we cannot so easily draw connections between these systems, or communities. Quite necessarily, theories on the ecology of human disease have been synthesized by the idea of One Health, which moves away from isolated treatment that is focused on the individual, and instead adopts a more comprehensive approach. At a much larger scale, One Health provides a cooperative framework of understanding complex interactions, by which, we can undertake the prevention and treatment of disease in the context of various species (human and non-human), and their shared habitats (Barrett & Osofsky, 2013). The notion of One Health has become indispensable for the coordination of managing the outbreak of disease, as