The Health Consequences of Development.
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THE SARAWAK MUSEUM JOURNAL |
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Title :
The Health Consequences of Development. |
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Author :
George N. Appell |
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Abstract:
Development clearly has significant health consequences. In many cases it may improve the health of a village or a population. In other instances the demands for change come so fast and are of such magnitude that a population may be overwhelmed. As a result physiological, psychological, and behavioral impairments may begin to rise. We have all witnessed demoralized, unhealthy, apathetic people who have not been able to cope with rapid social change and as a result may never be able to participate in a growing economy. Even where development has improved health,as in new village drinking water schemes or inoculations for contagious diseases, the demand to adapt to new medical and public health regimes puts an added load on a population, and this may have its adaptation costs. Social change requires adaptation, and thus does not occur without health impairments, as has been demonstrated in a number of studies from a variety of disciplines. But these have never been brought together into any coherent framework or theory. And therefore the amount of social change required before health impairments arise and the extent and duration of such health impairments have never been fully investigated. Thus, the anthropology of development has two great challenges. First, it must devise a theory to explain why some populations can adapt to change with relatively few negative effects, while other populations are overwhelmed. This article is an attempt to sketch out the parameters of such a theory, which I term General Adaptation Theory. It attempts to incorporate all levels of response to demands for coping, the behavioral, the psychological, and the physiological.
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| DOI: XXXX |
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How to cite:
Appell, G. N. (1986). The Health Consequences of Development. The Sarawak Museum Journal, XXXVI (57): 43-74 |
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References
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