SOCIO-CULTURAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH BEHAVIORS: A STUDY OF VlLLAGE MOHRA FATIMA

Abstract

Throughout human history, issues of health, illness, and the treatment options have been directly interwoven with social, cultural, and political life of societies. Health is not merely the biomedical phenomenon; rather it has also social and cultural dimensions. In all societies people behave and get engage in celiain measures to protect and maintain their health which vary from society to society. The variations can be due to ecological conditions, social and cultural beliefs and practices pertaining to the maintenance of health and recognizing, perceiving, and interpreting the symptoms of illness and sickness and the causation and treatment of a particular illness. Human beings are products of their particular cultures and their behavioral patterns can be comprehended in their cultural context. Since cultures of the world vary therefore understanding of perception of health, illness, sickness, and ways to deal with such issues have to be cultural specific as well. This very reason draw the attention of researchers and professionals of health to use anthropological approach to understand health related behaviours i.e., how do people define health, and perceive meanings of illness because there concepts are embedded in the cultural fabric of particular societies.