Medical Anthropology: A Bio-Cultural Discipline

Medical Anthropology is a branch of anthropology. It is a bio-cultural discipline concerned with both the biological and socio-cultural aspects of human behaviour related to health and disease. With the emergence of Medical anthropology, the distinction between the usage of the terms disease and illness was made possible. This differentiation is a significant anthropological contribution. This book basically deals with the definitions, meaning and scope of the subject matter in the introductory chapters. Subsequent chapters deal with the history of diseases, medical inventions, medical pluralism, and the relation between anthropology and epidemiology, besides, ethno-medicine, the Shaman, disease transmission models, and medical statistics. This book is intended to be of interest to all those who are interested to learn about health, disease and illness, especially those in the disciplines of anthropology and sociology.