Applied Medical Anthropology
Applied medical anthropology is the branch of medical anthropology that includes policy and planning work done by anthropologists in international and domestic health, in hospital and clinic consultations, and in the training of medical professionals. Applied medical anthropology has alternatively been called clinical anthropology and clinically applied anthropology. Anthropologists apply anthropological theory to the resolution of health and health care problems (Joralemon 2010: 13).
A classic example of how health beliefs are important in the resolution of health problems is the work of anthropologist Edward Wellin ( 1955). His efforts focused on reducing water-borne diseases such as cholera. This was accomplished by providing information to families about the need to boil water to prevent illness. After two years, it was found that only 26 out of 200 families were routinely boiling water. When Wellin looked into the reasons why the families were not boiling water he learned that part of the health beliefs of the Peruvian villagers included that water is essential has cold qualities until it is boiled, then even when cooled the essential nature is hot and can be potentially harmful to health upsetting a person's internal equilibrium (Joralemon 2010:89).
A key lesson that can be learned from the above example was stated by Harvard anthropologist Benjamin Paul. He said, "Before asking a group of people to assume new health habits, it is wise to ascertain the existing habits, how these habits are linked to each other, what functions they perform, and what they mean to those who practice them (Joralemon 2010:89).
The role of an applied medical anthropologist often as a "culture broker", an intermediary between biomedical practitioners and groups whose cultural assumptions might be at odds with the underlying scientific medicine ( Joralemon 2010:10).
In the book,The Spirit Catches You, and You Fall Down,
a culture broker is described as more than an interpreter
but as someone who teaches you what do when you don’t know what to do. The author, Anne Fadiman, brought May Ying as her culture broker. She was a young Hmong clerk-typist from the Office of Refugee services and a second-runner up in the national Miss Hmong pageant (Fadiman 1997:95).
A key belief for the Lee family in their reluctance to follow the treatment plan for Lia was stated by her mother Foua Lee "the doctors can fix some sickness that involve the body and blood, but for us Hmong, some people get sick because of their soul, so they need spiritual things. With Lia it was good to do a little medicine and a little neeb, but too much medicine cuts the neeb's effect. If we did a little of each she didn't get sick as much, but the doctors wouldn't let us give just a little medicine because they didn't understand about the soul" (Fadiman 1997:100).
Below is a video presented by Dr. Paul Astin. He talks about examples of how applied medical anthropology works towards resolving health and health care problems including Wellin's work in Peru.