Cultural approaches to disease Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Cultural approaches to disease - Research Paper Example On the other hand, Procter defines disease as the presence of an illness in the human body, often caused by infection, a definition that dominated in the early twentieth century’s-understanding of human health in which the biomedical perspective adopted was characterised by the narrow view of health as the mere absence of illness in the body. However, this vintage point has been replaced by a more encompassing one in which the role of the three aspects of biomedical, socio-cultural, and psychology in promoting society wellbeing have been brought together to form the modern day bio-psychosocial model. In fact, in 1948, the World Health Organization gave a standard definition of health as not the absence of disease or infirmity, but rather the complete mental, social, and mental state of well being. This definition captured the intricacy and multidisciplinary nature of health as a concept. The inclusion of the social dimension points to fact that the individual is a social being influenced and affected by the society they are in and his/her health being more than merely physiological (Card, et. al. 76). This widened viewpoint has over the years led to a shift from the traditional focus on the individual, as the sole unit of analysis and primary factor in preventing diseases and promotion of health. The modern day psychological approaches views individuals form a subset of a set influenced significantly by other factors of the social, economic, cultural, and physical environments. This paper will argue about the different cultural perspectives of disease, precisely HIV/AIDS, and their influence the global spread of diseases. Both the theoretical and applied approaches to health need to develop a culturally receptive understanding. This understanding is that models developed mostly in the developed world are expanded and improved by observing their efficiency and impact across varied cultural societies. This