Page 141 - Prioridades en salud y salud intercultural

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“Once medicine is established as anthropol-
ogy, and once the interests of the privileged
no longer determine the course of public
events, the physiologist and the practitioner
will be counted among the elder statesmen
who support the social structure. Medicine
is a social science in its very bone and mar-
row.”
Rudolph Virchow
Die Einheitsbestrebungen, 1849
1. At the turn of the century, the
emergence of the “New World
Order” lead to profound changes
in the social, economic and politi-
cal context –in both rich and poor
countries alike– creating opportuni-
ties and hopeful prospects, but also
challenges, risks and constraints for
the health of populations’ world
wide. Today, globalization and
fragmentation are world dominant
forces at play, simultaneously ex-
erting major influences in the con-
figuration of vast social sectors, re-
aligning political fronts, generating
alliances and antagonistic tensions
and conflict in various forms with a
range of consequences in the qual-
ity of life, health status and life ex-
pectancy of populations around the
globe. Growing interdependence,
competition for world markets, the
expansion of transnational corpo-
rations, and new trade agreements
mobilizing financial resources,
goods and services along with in-
creased transfer of medical technol-
ogies, drugs and pharmaceuticals
have contributed both positively in
some instances, but also negative-
ly to global health(1). The trans-
boundary movement of hazardous
products and waste have created
new health risks often resulting in
global environmental degradation:
ozone depletion, climate change
and ocean pollution, with obvious
deleterious consequences in the
AT THE CROSSROADS BETWEEN GLOBAL
HEALTH AND LOCAL CULTURES: A
CRITICAL PERSPECTIVE
Duncan Pedersen