A higher infant mortality rate and a shorter life
expectancy, coupled with a high prevalence of a
variety of diseases commonly associated with
malnutrition, are usually a reflection of the social
conditions of poverty in a society.By arguing that
apartheid formed the basis of inequality and the
underlying cause of an unacceptable burden of
diseases of poverty among black South
Africans, the author locates these health problems
within their social, economic, and political
context. He argues that if health and disease are
measures of the effectiveness with which human
beings using scientific and cultural
resources adapt to their environment,this
relationship underpins the convergence of medical
and cultural interests. He explains why in a
pluralistic medical setting where only biomedicine
was recognised as legitimate, for the majority of
Africans the advent of such
medicine was viewed not so much as displacing their
time tested remedies, but as increasing the medical
options available to them. With its new approach to
health problems, this book will be useful to
policy makers and health workers in this age of the
HIV/AIDS pandemic.
expectancy, coupled with a high prevalence of a
variety of diseases commonly associated with
malnutrition, are usually a reflection of the social
conditions of poverty in a society.By arguing that
apartheid formed the basis of inequality and the
underlying cause of an unacceptable burden of
diseases of poverty among black South
Africans, the author locates these health problems
within their social, economic, and political
context. He argues that if health and disease are
measures of the effectiveness with which human
beings using scientific and cultural
resources adapt to their environment,this
relationship underpins the convergence of medical
and cultural interests. He explains why in a
pluralistic medical setting where only biomedicine
was recognised as legitimate, for the majority of
Africans the advent of such
medicine was viewed not so much as displacing their
time tested remedies, but as increasing the medical
options available to them. With its new approach to
health problems, this book will be useful to
policy makers and health workers in this age of the
HIV/AIDS pandemic.