Medical anthropology represents a longstanding research interest at the Section.  Initially focusing on patient-doctor communication, the field has grown both thematically and theoretically to cover a wide range of health-related problem fields, such as the distribution of risk of diseases and access to health care in a society and across societies.


While diseases travel globally, so do staff involved in treatment and knowledge about prevention, diagnosis and treatment, as they follow patterns of resource distribution in a global market. New technologies and treatments interact with new and emerging diseases and epidemics that establish theoretical challenges for medical anthropology.

At the department, we currently conduct research on:

• The private health sector in Asia
• Retroviral treatment for AIDS in Uganda
• Reproductive health and HIV treatment in Uganda
• Diagnostic criteria for ADHD
• Sugar images in Latin America
• Diabetes in Vietnam.

The Section is host within this theme to the M.A. degree ’Health and Welfare.’