A revision of the studies around gastrointestinal diseases. In search of new alternatives for the analysis of the health-disease processes

https://doi.org/10.18294/sc.2009.230

Published 4 April 2009 Open Access


Anahi Sy Licenciada en Antropología. Doctora en Ciencias Naturales. Docente de la Cátedra Etnografía I, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Argentina



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Keywords:

Qualitative Analysis, Anthropology, Gastrointestinal Diseases, Intestinal Diseases, Parasitic, Indigenous Population, Argentina

Abstract


In this paper, we introduce a critical revision of different approaches to the study of gastrointestinal pathologies, focusing on intestinal parasitosis in particular. We studied the way in which they have been built and defined, the way in which this has affected their treatment and we explored the possibility of trying new alternatives for their treatment.
Our interest in the topic arises from the results obtained in different stages of interdisciplinary investigation developed in two Guaraní communities Mbya in Misiones Province, Argentina. In this context, we observed that the occurrence of gastrointestinal diseases, parasitic in particular, does not respond to a limited group of causes but it presents multiple causes of a diverse nature. In this sense, we analyze the necessity of identifying and assessing sociocultural aspects which are not considered in the traditional epidemiological studies, in order to recognize the biocultural conditions under which theses infections may prosper.