Social Medicine within Public Health
While reviewing the notes I took for the social science module, I encountered a quote that describes what social medicine means, nested in the field of public health:
“As all Azande, most anthropologists and some doctors are aware, causation of a disease is a complex question: whilst the presence of the tubercle bacilius is a necessary cause of clinical tuberculosis, it is not a sufficient explanation for the occurrence of the disease in a particular person at a particular time.” — Frankenberg and Leeson, 1976
And of course, the famous one by Virchow: “Medicine, as a social science, as the science of human beings, has the obligation to point out problems and to attempt their theoretical solution: the politician, the practical anthropologist, must find the means for their actual solution….The physicians are the natural attorneys of the poor, and social problems fall to a large extent within their jurisdiction.”
*It’s a quick note to self, so that I remember what I hope to be one day— a medic, dedicated to advocating for those affected by the social determinants of health.
