Highlights
- •Autochthonous communities may provide new objectives for a revised WHO definition of health.
- •Variables as human equilibrium in nature, accepted spirituality and adaptation are described and proposed.
- •These propositions highlight the importance of medical anthropology for enhancing international public health policies.
Abstract
Currently, for many practitioners (hospital and liberals) and researchers (including
public health), the WHO definition of health is outdated: first it seems more utopian
than pragmatic; then, it proves unsuitable for a large part of the world population.
There is clearly a need to refine this definition or propose additional criteria to
be more relevant or discriminating. In this perspective, what can indigenous people
offer in the elaboration of a new definition of health?
In this article, leaders or representatives of autochthonous peoples, anthropologists
and physicians from many cultural origins (Amazonia, Patagonia, Papua New-Guinea,
Inuit, North-American Indian, sub-Saharan Africa, India, China, Melanesia and Polynesia)
have tried to identify and explain several key concepts that WHO should reintegrate
into its new definition of health: human equilibrium in nature, accepted spirituality
and adaptation.
On the sidelines of the application of COP21 decisions that should give back to man
his place into the environment, autochthonous people leaders, anthropologists and
MDs explain why these three concepts are fundamental and universal health determinants,
and need to be included in a new WHO definition of health.
Keywords
To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
Purchase one-time access:
Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online accessOne-time access price info
- For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
- For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'
Subscribe:
Subscribe to European Journal of Internal MedicineAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
References
- How should we define health?.BMJ. 2011; 343: d4163
- Charlier P. Ostéo-archéologie et techniques médico-légales. De Boccard, Paris2008
- Par-delà nature et culture.Gallimard (Folio), Paris2015: 18-19
- Safeguarding human health in the Anthropocene epoch: report of the Rockfeller Foundation-Lancet commission on planetary health.Lancet. 2015; 386: 1973-2018
- Design, methodology and baseline characteristics of Tai Chi and its protective effect against ischaemic stroke risk in an elderly community population with risk factors for ischaemic stroke: a randomised controlled trial.BMJ Open. 2015; 5e009158
- Aperception empirique du temps et conception de l'histoire dans la pensée Bantu.in: UNESCO. Les cultures et le temps. Payot, Paris1975: 143-165
- Recovery, spirituality and psychotherapy.J Relig Health. 2014; 53: 789-795
- Les édifices religieux désaffectés.in: Rapport de la commission de la culture et de l'éducation. Strasbourg. 1989
- La mort du divin, la fin de l'homme et l'avènement du sujet.in: Hervé C. Rozenberg J.J. Vers la fin de l'homme? De Boeck, Paris2006: 207-220
- L'homme ininterrompu ?.Denoël, Paris1972
- The normal and the pathological.D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht, Holland1978
- Agricultural exposures and cancer.Environ Health Perspect. 1995; 103: 205-208
- Le présent du passé au cube.Odile Jacob, Paris2013
- La Voie. Pour l'avenir de l'humanité.Fayard, Paris2011: 31
- Les derniers rois de Thulé.Plon, Paris1989
- Lettre à un Inuit de 2022.Fayard, Paris2015
- Wundt, Elemente der Voelkerpsychologie.L'Année sociologique, 1909-1912: 60-66
- Essai sur le don. Forme et raison de l'échange dans les sociétés archaïques.L'Année sociologique, 1923-1924: 30-186
Article info
Publication history
Published online: July 07, 2016
Accepted:
June 22,
2016
Received:
June 21,
2016
Identification
Copyright
© 2016 European Federation of Internal Medicine. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
