The Ecology of Disease and Health

Townsend, Patricia K.

doi:10.1002/9781444395303.ch9

Cited by 4 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…The peculiar, intersectional social and biological historical circumstances that bring virus and human together are crucial aspects of explaining viral infection in the context of these other dimensions. One especially well-suited paradigm for thinking about SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 in this manner is the Critical Medical Ecology model [7][8][9][10]. Distinct from other ways of integrative thinking (perhaps the Biopsychosocial Model, [11] or the Social Ecological Model [12]), Critical Medical Ecology is a multidimensional, multilevel way of viewing pandemics comprehensively, rooted simultaneously in microbiology and in anthropology, with shared priority for the processes of evolution, context, unintended/unexpected consequences, stressors, homeostasis, adaptation, and power relationshipsthe main components of ecology, with attention to power dynamics that have widespread consequence [10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Critical medical ecology and SARS-COV-2 in the urban environment: a pragmatic, dynamic approach to explaining and planning for research and practice

et al. 2020

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Background Practitioners and researchers in the midst of overwhelming coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreaks are calling for new ways of looking at such pandemics, with an emphasis on human behavior and holistic considerations. Viral outbreaks are characterized by socio-behaviorally-oriented public health efforts aimed at reducing exposure and prevention of morbidity/mortality once infected. These efforts involve different points-of-view, generally, than do those aimed to understand the virus’ natural history. Rampant spread of SARS-CoV-2 infection in cities clearly signals that urban areas contain conditions favorable for rapid transmission of the virus. Main text The Critical Medical Ecology model is a multidimensional, multilevel way of viewing pandemics comprehensively, rooted simultaneously in microbiology and in anthropology, with shared priority for evolution, context, stressors, homeostasis, adaptation, and power relationships. Viewing COVID-19 with a Critical Medical Ecological lens suggests three important interpretations: 1) COVID-19 is equally — if not more — a socially-driven disease as much as a biomedical disease, 2) the present interventions available for primary prevention of transmission are social and behavioral interventions, and 3) wide variation in COVID-19 hospitalization/death rates is not expected to significantly be attributable to a more virulent and rapidly-evolving virus, but rather to differences in social and behavioral factors — and power dynamics — rather than (solely) biological and clinical factors. Cities especially are challenged due to logistics and volume of patients, and lack of access to sustaining products and services for many residents living in isolation. Conclusions In the end, SARS-CoV-2 is acting upon dynamic social human beings, entangled within structures and relationships that include but extend far beyond their cells, and in fact beyond their own individual behavior. As a comprehensive way of thinking, the Critical Medical Ecology model helps identify these elements and dynamics in the context of ecological processes that create, shape, and sustain people in their multidimensional, intersecting environments.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Critical medical ecology and SARS-COV-2 in the urban environment: a pragmatic, dynamic approach to explaining and planning for research and practice

et al. 2020

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“…The ecological approach in medical anthropology asserts that human societies constantly change and recreate the physical and biological environment to which they must then adapt through the processes of co-evolution of human biology and culture (Townsend 2011). These approaches evaluate the human health and wellness in regard of their total environment including their social environment.…”

Section: Ecological Approaches In Medical Anthropologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The ecological anthropologists based on their ethnographic approach attempted to study health and nutrition among the hunting, gathering and farming communities among in their ecological conditions (Townsend 2011). Thus, they produced a rich body of data concerning subsistence systems, but the attempt to understand any of these populations as an isolated adaptive system in equilibrium with its environment quickly proved inappropriate.…”

Section: Nutrition and Ecologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Interrelating Ecology and Health: Some Bio-Social Concerns

Kaur

2015

Ecoprint

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Ecology and health issues are often characterized by complex interactions between ecosystems and social systems, and demand integration of themes that span the environmental and socioeconomic determinants of health. The present paper emphasizes the health implications of interactions between human groups and their social, physical and biological environments which help in understanding how changes and fluctuations in ecology affects rate and pattern of diseases. ECOPRINT 21: 31-40, 2014DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/eco.v21i0.11902

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“…Certainly, epidemics and pandemics are also influenced by the physical landscape in which they occur and the mobility of the hosts. While outside the scope of this paper, there has been considerable research on infectious disease ecology and how natural (and constructed) ecosystems have symbiotic effects on diseases and epidemics (Baer & Singer, 2016; Ostfeld et al, 2008; Tallman et al, 2022; Townsend, 2011). Island epidemics, for example, are differentially influenced by the natural boundaries of the landscape and the in‐ and out‐migration of the hosts.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contextualizing pandemics: Respiratory survivorship before, during, and after the 1918 influenza pandemic in Newfoundland

Doren

Kelmelis

2022

American Journal of Biological Anthropology

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Background Research on the 1918 influenza pandemic often focuses exclusively on pandemic years, reducing the potential long‐term insights about the pandemic. It is critical to frame the 1918 pandemic within the underlying population dynamics, health, and sociocultural context to understand what factors contributed to pandemic mortality and survivorship, with respect to observed inequality, and consequences of the pandemic. Materials & Methods Individual death records and censuses from The Rooms Provincial Archives and Memorial University of Newfoundland Digital Archives for three major causes of death—influenza and pneumonia; tuberculosis; and pooled bronchitis, measles, and whooping cough—were collected for three periods in the early 20th century: pre‐pandemic (1909–11), pandemic (March 1918–Janaury 1919), and post‐pandemic (1933–1935). We calculated pooled age‐standardized mortality rates and changes in pre‐ to post‐pandemic mortality rates by region. We fit Kaplan–Meier and Cox proportional hazards models to each period, controlling for age, cause of death, and region. Results Pandemic mortality was higher than that of pre‐ and post‐pandemic periods. Post‐pandemic mortality was significantly lower than pre‐pandemic mortality in all regions, except Western Newfoundland. Survival was lowest during the pandemic and increased significantly post‐pandemic (p < 0.0001), with no significant differences among regions during the pandemic (p = 0.32). Significant differences in survivorship in 1933–1935 were driven by increasing differences in survivorship for P&I among the regions more than other causes of death. Discussion Myopic perspectives of pandemics can obscure our understanding of observed outcomes. Inequalities in respiratory disease mortality are evident in pre‐ and post‐pandemic periods, but these would have been missed in investigations of the pandemic period alone.

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The Ecology of Disease and Health

Cited by 4 publications

References 31 publications

Critical medical ecology and SARS-COV-2 in the urban environment: a pragmatic, dynamic approach to explaining and planning for research and practice

Critical medical ecology and SARS-COV-2 in the urban environment: a pragmatic, dynamic approach to explaining and planning for research and practice

Interrelating Ecology and Health: Some Bio-Social Concerns

Contextualizing pandemics: Respiratory survivorship before, during, and after the 1918 influenza pandemic in Newfoundland

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