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The Context of Medicines in Developing Countries

Studies in Pharmaceutical Anthropology

  • Book
  • © 1988

Overview

Editors:
  1. Sjaak Geest

    1. Antropologisch-Sociologisch Centrum, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

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  2. Susan Reynolds Whyte

    1. Institut for Etnologi og Antropologi, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen K., Denmark

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    You can also search for this editor in PubMed   Google Scholar

Part of the book series: Culture, Illness and Healing (CIHE, volume 12)

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Table of contents (17 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xiii
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  2. Introduction

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1
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    2. Medicines in Context: An Introduction

      • Susan Reynolds Whyte, Sjaak Van Der Geest
      Pages 3-11

  3. The Transaction of Medicines

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 13-16
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    2. Commercial Pharmaceutical Medicine and Medicalization: A Case Study from El Salvador

      • Anne Ferguson
      Pages 19-46

    3. Traditional Practitioners and Western Pharmaceuticals in Sri Lanka

      • Ivan Wolffers
      Pages 47-56

    4. Medicines and Rural Health Services: An Experiment in the Dominican Republic

      • Antonio Ugalde, Nuria Homedes
      Pages 57-79

    5. Buying Drugs in Addis Ababa: A Quantitative Analysis

      • Helmut Kloos, Berhanu Getahun, Asregid Teferi, Kefalo Gebre Tsadik, Solomon Belay
      Pages 81-106

    6. ‘Casi Como Doctor’: Pharmacists and Their Clients in a Mexican Urban Context

      • Kathleen Logan
      Pages 107-129

    7. The Articulation of Formal and Informal Medicine Distribution in South Cameroon

      • Sjaak Van Der Geest
      Pages 131-148

    8. The Rise of the Modern Jamu Industry in Indonesia: A Preliminary Overview

      • Ahmad Fuad Afdhal, Robert L. Welsch
      Pages 149-172

  4. The Meaning of Medicines

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 173-176
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    2. Culture and Pharmaceutics: Some Epistemological Observations on Pharmacological Systems in Ancient Europe and Medieval China

      • Paul U. Unschuld
      Pages 179-197

    3. The Use of Herbal and Biomedical Pharmaceuticals on Mauritius

      • Linda K. Sussman
      Pages 199-215

    4. The Power of Medicines in East Africa

      • Susan Reynolds Whyte
      Pages 217-233

    5. Traditional Medication at Pregnancy and Childbirth in Madura, Indonesia

      • Anke Niehof
      Pages 235-252

    6. The Reinterpretation and Distribution of Western Pharmaceuticals: An Example from the Mende of Sierra Leone

      • Caroline H. Bledsoe, Monica F. Goubaud
      Pages 253-276

    7. Cultural Meanings of Oral Rehydration Salts in Jamaica

      • Carol Maccormack, Alizon Draper
      Pages 277-288

    8. Penicillin: An Ancient Ayurvedic Medicine

      • Richard Burghart
      Pages 289-298

    9. Cultural Constructions of Efficacy

      • Nina L. Etkin
      Pages 299-326
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Keywords

About this book

Western pharmaceuticals are flooding the Third World. Injections, capsules and tablets are available in city markets and village shops, from 'traditional' practitioners and street vendors, as well as from more orthodox sources like hospitals. Although many are aware of this 'pharmaceutical invasion', little has been written about how local people perceive and use these products. This book is a first attempt to remedy that situation. It presents studies of the ways Western medicines are circulated and understood in the cities and rural areas of Africa, Asia and Latin America. We feel that such a collection is long overdue for two reasons. The first is a practical one: people dealing with health problems in developing countries need information about local situations and they need examples of methods they can use to examine the particular contexts in which they are working. We hope that this book will be useful for pharmacists, doctors, nurses, health planners, policy makers and concerned citizens, who are interested in the realities of drug use. Why do people want various kinds of medicine? How do they evaluate and choose them and how do they obtain them? The second reason for these studies of medicines is to fill a need in medical anthropology as a field of study. Here we address our colleagues in anthropol­ ogy, medical sociology and related disciplines.

Editors and Affiliations

  • Antropologisch-Sociologisch Centrum, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Sjaak Geest

  • Institut for Etnologi og Antropologi, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen K., Denmark

    Susan Reynolds Whyte

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: The Context of Medicines in Developing Countries

  • Book Subtitle: Studies in Pharmaceutical Anthropology

  • Editors: Sjaak Geest, Susan Reynolds Whyte

  • Series Title: Culture, Illness and Healing

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-2713-1

  • Publisher: Springer Dordrecht

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

  • Copyright Information: Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 1988

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-55608-059-3Published: 31 October 1988

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-94-010-7722-4Published: 13 November 2013

  • eBook ISBN: 978-94-009-2713-1Published: 06 December 2012

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XIII, 393

  • Topics: Anthropology

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