SOCIOLOGY OF HEALTH

The 1978 Alma Ata Declaration has made ‘health for all’ a universal goal. However, the health goals of the vulnerable and marginalized groups are largely unmet in India. Despite the launch of MDGs at the global level and several health reforms at the national level, the health outcomes are far away from being satisfactory. The out-of-pocket expenditure on medical care is, perhaps, the biggest cause of pauperization of Indian population. This book presents the ground realities of ‘health’, ‘illness’ and ‘disease’ in India. It extensively uses the conflict, functional, interactionist and post-structuralist perspectives to explore the nuances and subtleties surrounding ‘disease’ and ‘health care’ in India at different levels. It covers issues like development of sociology of health; social medicine and community health; social epidemiology; types and agents of disease; medicalization and demedicalization; medical pluralism; determinants and indicators of health; occupational health; nutrition, food and water; sanitation and environment; health policies and programmes; and inequality, inequity and dehealthism in health. This book is useful not only for students of sociology, social work, community medicine, public health, anthropology, medical geography, and nursing but also for the health practitioners, activists and, above all, the policy makers and health managers.