The Ecology of Health and Disease

According to Hindu cosmology, a city is a microcosm of the universe. In the city of Kathmandu, at the foot of the Himalaya range, this microcosm contains sharp contrasts between ancient traditions and modern problems. One of the least-developed nations in the world, Nepal is a mountainous, landlocked country of 30 million people bounded by India to the south and China to the north. In 1995, Kathmandu had about 1,500 street children, including about 600 homeless children and teens who slept with minimal shelter in different locations. Homeless street children were healthier than expected. Measures of relative height-for-age, indicating stunting, showed that they were taller than village children and children from the squatter settlements. In the early 20th century, anthropologists regarded illness and healing as parts of cultural systems and usually did not focus on disease transmission. By the 1940s and 1950s, even though the role of "medical anthropologist" had not been formally recognized, anthropologists were studying community health problems.

Biology · Geography · Ecology · Public Health Policies and Education

• Uncivilizing “Mental Illness”

  Open Access•Erica Hua Fletcher•Journal of Medical Humanities•2018

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