Exam 16: Health, Illness, and the Body

According to the United Nations, in 2015, which country had the highest life expectancy at birth?

As discussed in the text, what diagnosis did the biomedical physicians first give Lia Lee of Merced, California, when her parents brought her to the hospital?

What was the focus of Khiara Bridges's research in the New York City women's health clinic? How did the composition of the patient population compare to that of the medical staff? What noticeable differences did she observe, if any, in the treatment that patients received? To what, if anything, did she attribute any disparities? Specifically, how did members of the medical staff view their patients, and how did she interpret these differences as creating disparities across race lines?

The human ecosystem, composed of trillions of organisms in the human body, is understood as what?

The study of ethnopharmacology emerged from efforts to:

We are taught that antibacterial soaps and cleaning products that completely eliminate germs on surfaces and food are essential to good health. Why is this approach now under scrutiny?

Khiara Bridges suggests that the statistical data for racial disparities in health, which indicate that black babies die at twice the rate of white babies, are due to more than just poverty and may be a result of what in particular?

How have the processes of globalization and Westernization affected health care in the Ladakh region of the Himalayas? Specifically, describe the care provided by Tibetan Buddhist healers, and provide three specific examples of how this system has changed during the past thirty years in terms of how these healers are compensated, the introduction of Western medical approaches, and the global interest in this type of health care.

Anthropologist Arthur Kleinman's work involves collecting different illness narratives. Where can such narratives be vital in the treatment of illness and promotion of good health?

Surgical procedures are integral to which of the following?

What is medical pluralism?

What does the study of ethnomedicine focus on?

According to the text, what is one consequence of the health transition?

In his book The Body Silent, anthropologist Robert Murphy documents quadriplegia that left him wheelchair-bound. From this experience, what does Murphy conclude is the "ultimate purpose for our species"?

While conventional wisdom attributes good health to good nutrition, exercise, sleep, proper sanitation, and avoiding smoking, medical anthropologists consider many other factors when looking at health. What is one critical aspect of health that is often overlooked?

Since 1996, what has the trend been for the rate of births by cesarean section (C-section) in the United States?

One of the most significant changes that Zanmi Lasante initiated in rural Haiti was the training of local community members as health-care workers. What factor was responsible for their success in identifying local health-care problems and providing basic health services?

How do medical anthropologists distinguish between disease and illness?

The World Health Organization calls for a definition of health that includes the absence of infirmity and complete physical and mental health. What else is called for consideration in their definition?

How do anthropologists define biomedicine?