ANP 491, 301 Special Topics: Bioanthropological Perspectives on Health, Disease and Socio-ecological Changes in Developing Countries (2 credits)

March 16 – April 27, 2012
Fridays 9:10-1:00

INSTRUCTOR: Hilton Silva, MD, MPH, Ph.D, Professor of the Universidade Federal do Para, Belem, Brazil

COURSE DESCRIPTION: Globalization and socio-ecological changes worldwide create ideal conditions for the emergency of a large number of new and old diseases. This seminar focuses on how bioanthropological approaches, combined with a public health perspectives provide new insights for analyzing health outcomes across a range of social and environmental circumstances. Aspects of the origins and spread of infectious and chronic diseases, and their relationships with socio-cultural, economic, environmental and life style changes throughout the world will be examined, with particular focus on traditional populations of Latin America and Africa. Material from historical and recent sources on South America, Africa, Asia, North America and Europe will be discussed. The program explores the interfaces between anthropology and public health and discusses recent trends of key infectious and chronic diseases and their relation to cultural and economic conditions. Readings and discussions on the health and health planning implications of environmental, economic and social changes at the global and local levels will conclude the seminar. Students will become familiar with the complex relationships of health issues with socio-ecological changes in different regions, and will develop skills to design bioanthropological approaches to examine health related questions.