medical anthropology, n.All

Medical anthropology is the study of the creation, representation, legitimization, and application of knowledge about the body in both health and illness.

Medical anthropology is concerned with descriptions and analyzes of medical systems which emerge from human attempts to survive disease and surmount death, and are conceptualized as social responses to illness and the sick role within the variety of world culture.

Medical anthropology is grounded in the assumption that health-related issues, including disease and treatment, are far more than narrow biological phenomena. Cultural and social factor have a lot to say about how we get sick, why we get sick, and what sickness means to us.

Medical anthropology is not merely a critique of the bio-medical framework. It focuses also on the non-professional side of the health field and the meaning context of illness and health care.

Medical anthropology is the cross-cultural study of medical systems and the bioecological and sociocultural factors that influence the incidence of health and disease now and throughout human history.