Social Science & Medicine (1967)最新文献

The ability of variables describing ecological structure to predict variation in cause specific mortality is examined using census tract data for Houston, Texas. A canonical regression model, incorporating recent developments in canonical theory, demonstrates that mortality differentials are more strongly associated with indicants of the disadvantaged population than any other component of ecological structure. However, substantial portions of mortality variability remain unexplained by ecological variables. Policy implications of these results are then discussed.

Traditional medical systems coexist and complement Western scientific or “modern” medicine throughout Africa, Asia and Latin America. At least 2.3 billion people, or 56% of the world's population, continue to rely upon traditional practitioners and healing techniques for treatment of a wide variety of physical and mental illnesses. The persistence of traditional medicine may be attributed largely to its consumer orientation and reputation for being accessible, available, acceptable, and dependable.

Modern medical services reach only a fraction of the population in most Third World countries. They are likely to continue to provide only a small part of the total available health care for the foreseeable future. Recently, the World Health Organization and some individual governments, health professionals, and social scientist have drawn attention to the vast manpower resources of traditional medicine. Collaboration with or integration of traditional practitioners may be a means of expanding primary care in the modern health sector. Yet lack of information is the greatest initial barrier to assessing the feasibility of such proposals in relationship to national health goals and health planning. Although there are a number of sophisticated studies of traditional medical systems, even the most primitive geographic questions about the organization and behavioral patterns of traditional medicine have not been asked.

It is proposed that medical geographers recognize traditional medicine as a major and immediate problem area for basic and applied research. The rationale for geographic study is explained and essential lines of inquiry are suggested.

Crises of childhood lead poisoning reach a peak each summer among industrial societies in the mid-latitudes of the world. Sources of environmental lead intoxication include household dust and paint, soil around houses, gutter dirt, lead in canned foods, and lead in the air. Lead concentrations are geographically concentrated in older residential areas and along traffic arteries. At the macrolevel, they generally correspond with the nexus of industrial conurbations. Weather factors may seasonally influence aerosol lead levels, but the paramount seasonal influence in human lead poisoning is solar radiation. This affects the mobilization of the body burden of lead, often precipitating a child into a summer crisis of lead-induced encephalopathy. An integrative model of seasonality factors is presented; different risk groups, notably black children, are recognized; and, importantly, implications for public health planning are emphasized.

A planar graph of the island has been constructed in which nodes are weighted for total municipal population size and links represent road access between the nodes. The graph is repeated for 163 weekly periods and the notified viral hepatitis cases are shaded upon each. Even utilizing incomplete notifications, the system of spread breaks down into 3 discrete sub-systems, each centered upon a port of potential disease entry. Wide differences of municipal hepatitis incidence rates are shown, and disease diffusion through space exhibits a strong tendency to follow analogous patterns repetitively through time.

In a second, more localized study, patient movement records were collected to identify some high risks within the social environment of the Hobart metropolitan area. Lack of public awareness of disease hazards was highlighted.