Applied Medical Anthropology
The video above describes what applied medical anthropologists do. It talks about how applied medical anthropologists gets new ideas about different cultures. The video also talks about projects being done at the Social Service Center in Dorchester, MA. A woman talks about her work with individuals who left Haiti and what their life is like in the United States. Heather Paxson, a medical anthropologist, looks into the cultures of cheese making at Artisan Cheesemaker, VT. The video also talks about the purpose of fieldwork behind anthropology.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=BhCruPBvSjQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=BhCruPBvSjQ
One approach to medical anthropology is applied medical anthropology. Applied medical anthropology is solving problems in research (Anthropology University of North Texas Website). Applied medical anthropology involves anthropologists being a part of international and national related health projects and interventions. An applied anthropologist is seen as a "cultural broker". A cultural broker acts as a link between biomedical practices and cultural groups who are at odds with biomedical practices (Joralemon 2010:9-10).
Applied medical anthropology is used in a number of different fields:
- Health and medicine
- Environmental issues
- Education
- Museums
- International development
- Community development
- Disaster management and research
- Human rights
Applied medical anthropologists roles:
- Consultants
- Managers
- Cultural brokers
- Needs assessors
- Researchers
- Program evaluators
- Change agents
- Policy analysts
- Community advocates
- Trainers
- Impact assessors
An applied medical anthropologist's job is to learn about cultures through interviewing and observing. Applied medical anthropologists are trained to look at different societies and cultures as a whole. While doing their jobs it is important that they respect cultures and their beliefs (Anthropology University of North Texas Website).
Joralemon (2010) gives some great examples of applied medical anthropology in his book Exploring Medical Anthropology. In Indonesia, in the 1970's, the "Nutrition Improvement Project" started up with help from the World Bank. This project monitored the growth of children and provided education on nutrition. Marcia Griffiths, a medical anthropologist helped out with the project. The project's purpose was also to bring about positive changes in feeding practices among mother and child, to look at why mothers might be opposed to certain changes in feeding practices, and to bring encouragement to mothers to change their feeding practices that will better their child. Malnutrition was targeted because it can cause several diseases that can potentially be fatal. Also, UNICEF reported that almost half of child deaths are linked to malnutrition. When the project started, ten villages were selected to participate. Each village filled out surveys about their child's nutrition. After, meetings were held in the communities to talk about the results of the surveys and to come up with a solution. They tried to come up with solutions for healthier feeding practices. Not only were the surveys used to gather information, but the volunteers were trained to observe things that the surveys wouldn't catch, for example conversations between mothers in the villages. Applied anthropologists found out that some mothers were only feeding their child through one breast, or they were feeding their child contaminated food. Some other things that they looked at was the mothers nutritional knowledge, children's consumptions of food, intake of protein and calories, and height and weight. The project took about a year and a half. Marcia Griffiths stressed that it is important for anthropologists to be involved with a project from right when it starts to the very end of the project. Also, it is important to make sure qualitative and quantitative data is balanced. Lastly, Giffiths stresses that is it important to target the areas of concern (Joralemon 2010:93-94).