The contribution of social science research to malaria prevention and control.
Le résumé fourni par la source
In recent years, malaria has received a dramatic increase in attention worldwide, as witnessed by the growing number of articles in scientific journals, the forging of international partnerships such as the Multilateral Initiative on Malaria and Roll Back Malaria, and a global call to action.These initiatives have recognized the role that human behaviour plays in malaria control and have affirmed that social science has an integral role in defining strategies against malaria.In spite of this, we believe that social science's potential contributions to the field of malaria have not been fully realized.Numerous factors impede the integration of social science knowledge and practice into malaria research and programmes: many health personnel overlook the different, complementary disciplines of social science and their prospective interaction with their own fields of activity and they may, in addition, have only a superficial knowledge of the workings of social science research.First of all, many malaria control personnel, physicians and epidemiologists do not fully appreciate that social science comprises many disciplines including, but not limited to, anthropology, sociology, economics, political science, demography, and communications.The disciplines share an emphasis on understanding how human behaviour is shaped and modified in the global context by a vast array of influences.Each discipline is, however, guided by its own theoretical orientation, which influences the essential questions it asks and the methodologies it employs to answer them.For example, medical anthropology offers a particular approach to the investigation of human experience and behaviour, including health and sickness.The essence of a medical anthropological perspective is an appreciation of the complexity of culture and the realization that specific aspects such as health beliefs and behaviours cannot be understood in isolation but need to be looked at in relation to their larger historical, economic, social, political and geographical contexts.Applied medical anthropological research strives to understand the often competing dynamics that shape the various contexts important to diseases such as malaria.This type of applied research can help foster an
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