The Importance Of Medical Anthropology

Introduction

This paper aims to show the relevance of medical anthropologists in the healthcare system and their collaboration in working with medical doctors. Medical anthropology seeks to provide a framework, which could enable us to identify and analyze social, cultural, behavioral and environmental factors and provides us with an insightful role of involving cultural aspects in diagnosis and treatment of diseases in the healthcare system. This essay aims to critically discuss the contribution of medical anthropology in the field of health. Firstly, this essay aims to critically discuss the role of medical anthropologists as researchers, brokers, collaborators and health activists. Secondly, the author will adopt the role of a researcher

`Culture' extends to issues of power, control, resistance and defiance as well, and anthropology seeks to understand the links between social stratification (gender, ethnicity, social class), access to material and immaterial goods (food, water, health services, education), illness representations, cultural constructions of femininity and masculinity, attitudes to health promotion, and health behavior.

Anthropologists as brokers, collaborators and policy advisors.

The Poltorak (2016), study provides an ethnographic account of the collaboration between medical doctors, brokers and traditional healers, while Dr Puloka’s use of medical anthropological and transcultural psychiatry research informed a community-engaged brokerage between the implications of

However, the potential integration of healers into the health system was challenged because of their lack of confidence in biomedical notions of disease. According to Parsons (1983), the best way to challenge community engagement

In Tonga, would be trough researching and valuing healers’ knowledge. “There were, however, few precedents for psychiatrist and traditional healer collaborations in the literature to draw on. Wolfgang Jilek’s encouragement of such collaborations in Tonga followed the 1978 Alma Ata declaration (WHO, 1978) calling for greater recognition of, and integration with, traditional healers (WHO, 2002). After a consultancy to the Tongan Ministry of Health in 1987 he argued that patients ‘‘suffering from what appears to be schizophrenic process psychosis, can show significant improvement with culture-congenial psycho-phyto-physiotherapy’’ (Jilek, 1988, p. 173). WHO-sponsored workshops in 1996 and 1998 with traditional healers revealed a diversity of approaches and remedies, some of which implied syncretism with the form and occasionally content of biomedical treatment (Poltorak, 2010; Williams, 1999). Pauline Lolohea, the MHWO mentioned above was instrumental in using the workshops to build links with the community. There was a further trust formed between medical psychiatrists and healers and healers were encouraged