Latin American critical ('Social') epidemiology: new settings for an old dream

Abstract

This paper is an invitation to confront the menacing forces producing our unhealthy societies and an opportunity to form fraternal partnerships on the intercultural road to a better world, where only an epidemiology of dignity and happiness will make sense.

Promoting the health of marginalized populations in Ecuador through international collaboration and education innovations

“…This includes what Breilh describes as both the destructive and protective interactions of global and singular influences on the health of individuals and communities, as well as the design of community-based interventions to respond to inequitable distribution of hazardous exposures such as toxic pollutants, stress and "modes of life". 19,20 These trends not only reinforce the analysis from the Latin American social medicine movement [20][21][22] but also the relevance of ecosystem approaches to health with an emphasis on transdisciplinarity, multi-stakeholder participation and social equity. 23 To respond to these challenges, human resources must be trained for interdisciplinary and intersectoral team work, sensitive to the realities of disadvantaged populations.…”

“…The community and province-level interactions of the initial cohort of students are being complemented by national-level interactions -with coordinators from each of the three universities building relationships with a national team that includes an academic director and senior tutors with complementary skills in ecosystem approaches to health, community development, agro-ecology and laboratory science as well as strong ties with the Latin American Social Medicine movement. [19][20][21][22] Since programme inception, the National (Ecuadorian) Steering Committee has consolidated a national…”

Promoting Mental Health and Community Participation: A study on participatory arts practice, creativity and play in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina

“…In such a context, street events of collective creation are producers of an alternative subjectivity that privileges the concept of community, of the relational, of the inclusive and territorial. From the perspective of comprehensive health, the practices that confront individualism and competition -typical of our current market society-to replace them for solidarity and cooperation, are practices that promote community mental health (ALAMES, 2011;Breilh, 2008).…”

Towards a critical epidemiology approach for applied sexual health research

“…Aside from these three authors the term 'critical epidemiology' has been predominantly used in in the study of South American politics and 'saude coletiva' ('social health'), leading to the persecution of associated academics (Breilh, 2008) (Waitzkin et al, 2001). Finally, Nancy Krieger (Krieger, 2000b) has used the term in her critiques of social epidemiology.…”