Culture's influence on human health in globalization and healthcare access

Health, Culture & Globalization

Health, Culture and Globalization

Culture plays an integral role in the lives of societies and individuals all over the world. Across countries and societies, different kinds of culture exist and govern the daily lives of people. Defined technically, culture is the system of beliefs, norms, values, and traditions that a specific group of people perceives and considers as their worldview. Countries have different cultures, and within each culture exists sub-cultures, created because of the diversity/differences existing from even the same group of people with the same nationality, race, or ethnic membership.

Culture inadvertently affects every aspect of an individual's life. Its influence could be as mundane as deciding what to wear and eat for the day, or as critical and important not only to the individual but also to the society, such as deciding who to vote for depending on the candidate's similarities in beliefs and values as the voter's. This illustrates that consciously or not, people tend to make decisions based on the belief and value system inculcated in him/her as s/he grew up in specific cultures in the society. Note that the culture could be as big as a country's culture, or as small as a family or friend's culture shared with the individual.

Health is one aspect of human life that is influenced, at best, from a small-knit group, like the individual's family or immediate community. Hygiene, more specifically, is learned in the early stages of a person's development. It is taught at a young age by family members and extends, as one grows older, with shared experiences with friends, who are almost always members of the same community the individual lives in and/or grew up in. In time of sickness and diseases, the family could opt for home remedies or medical consultation, whichever is the family's preference based on their culture. Further in studying the relationship of health and culture, it is also important to factor in the individual's economic status, as inevitably, a nation, community, or family's culture are also highly influenced by the economic state from which the culture thrived or flourished.

The influence of culture on health is best manifested through religion, according to a study conducted by Eckersley (2007). He posited that health is strongly linked with the concept of "well-being" [sic], which in turn is most tangibly represented through physical health. At a socio-cultural level, health and well-being are also linked with social integration, which inevitably draws the individual back to his/her cultural roots or at the most basic level of influence of culture in him/her (para. 11-12). Thus, the need to relate with or isolate one's self from his/her community and society affects the individual's well-being (psychological well-being), which inevitably translates itself through his/her physical health.

Take, as an example, the influence of misconceptions and religious beliefs in the spread of tuberculosis (TB) in specific groups/communities in Asian countries. Communities in Indonesia could have incorrect perceptions about the disease and resort to fatalism as a result of lack of knowledge about the disease and lack of financial capability to seek professional medical help. Smaller and tightly-knit groups / communities sharing the same religious beliefs might not belief in the curative effects of medicines, which could result from an individual's refusal to take medications, and inevitably, die of a curable disease. Worse, since TB is a communicable disease, the person's decision to not take medication to cure TB would result to higher incidence of TB disease in the community, affecting women and children, and again, inevitably resulting to deaths within the group.

With the advent of globalization in the 21st century, a new dynamic emerges that could change the interplay between culture and health. Globalization is considered a 'primary mover' that encompasses and at the same time, revolutionizes culture, economics, and politics all over the world. Huynen et. al. (2005) defined globalization based on its interplay with all structural components inherent in countries and societies today (para. 6):