Exam 14: Health, Illness, and the Body

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?

Describe three ways that the care provided by Tibetan Buddhist healers has changed during the past thirty years due to the processes of globalization and Westernization.

Medical anthropology takes a holistic approach to health. In addition to examining meaning and power, what else does this approach include?

What are two underlying beliefs that shape the traditional Chinese Medicine approach to health care? Give two examples of treatments that it uses. What do these types of treatment attempt to achieve?

In the Andes mountains, a medical specialist called a curandero rubs a sick person with a guinea pig to diagnose and remove the cause of his illness. This is an example of:

In Chinatown in New York, Kaitlyn can treat her headache at a tuina facility, Chinese herbalist, university hospital-affiliated medical clinic, or a botánica that sells religious icons and herb from a variety of Latin American and Caribbean traditions. These options are examples of:

Discuss how "traditional" Chinese medicine has "gone global"? How and when did Chinese medical practices become more widespread in North America, Europe, and other parts of the world?

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

The core values of good health in the United States-personal responsibility, hard work, and clean living-shape how Americans approach functional health. Where do these values fit in respect to the World Health Organization's definition of health?

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?

Nancy Scheper-Hughes and Margaret Lock reported a case of a woman under tremendous personal stress. How did the medical students respond to the story?

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?

The People's Republic of China moved to institutionalize traditional Chinese medicine through a number of different strategies, including the export of the practice to other countries. Why was this was done?

What is medical pluralism?

Chinese medicine conceptualizes qi as a type of energy found in all living things, something that must be in balance to maintain good health. According to this view, what are two things mentioned in the text that must remain in balance?

During the European conquest of North America, entire populations suffered due to the diseases brought to the continents by the conquering armies. In a very real sense, this early form of "globalization" was a type of medical migration. How does medical migration today compare?

Paul Farmer believed the delivery of medicines and medical procedures alone was not enough to solve local health problems. Describe three ways his health initiative, Zani Lasante, used anthropological methods and perspectives to address public health-care problems in Cange, Haiti.

The dominant idea of health care in the United States is doctors in white coats, hospitals, and advanced technology. What have medical anthropologists found to be the case in regard to this concept in the rest of the world?