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1.
Violence Against Women ; : 10778012241230323, 2024 Feb 04.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38311938

ABSTRACT

We examined how study participants in Indonesia and Peru viewed the relationship between water insecurity and women's health via thematic analysis of interviews and focus groups. Participants reported that water insecurity led to vaginal infections, miscarriage, premature births, uterine prolapse, poor nutrition, restricted economic opportunities, and intergenerational cycles of poverty. Participants in both countries stated that extreme burdens associated with water insecurity should be categorized as violence. Based on these findings, we developed the concept of "gender-based water violence," defined as the spectrum of stressors associated with water insecurity that are so severe as to threaten human health and well-being, particularly that of women and girls.

2.
Am J Hum Biol ; 34(12): e23805, 2022 12.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-36165225

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: This study examines the associations between water insecurity, self-reported physical health, and objective measures of biological health among 225 Awajún adults (107 women; 118 men) living in the Peruvian Amazon, a "water-abundant" region. METHODS: A survey, which included multiple measures of self-reported physical health, and objective measures of biological health such as blood pressure and nutritional and immune biomarkers. RESULTS: Greater water insecurity was associated with multiple measures of self-reported physical health, including higher incidence of reported diarrhea, nausea, back pain, headaches, chest pain, fatigue, dizziness, overall poor perceived health, and "being sick." These symptoms align with the physical strain associated with water acquisition and with drinking contaminated water. A significant association between higher water insecurity and lower systolic blood pressure emerged, which may be linked to dehydration. None of the other biomarkers, including those for nutrition, infection, and stress were significantly associated with water insecurity scores. CONCLUSIONS: These analyses add to the growing body of research examining the associations between water insecurity and health. Biocultural anthropologists are well-positioned to continue probing these connections. Future research will investigate relationships between measures of water insecurity and biomarkers for gastrointestinal infection and inflammation in water-scarce and water-abundant contexts.


Subject(s)
Food Supply , Water Insecurity , Adult , Male , Humans , Female , Self Report , Peru/epidemiology , Water
3.
Soc Sci Med ; 295: 113037, 2022 02.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-32475727

ABSTRACT

Ecosyndemics refer to disease interactions that result from environmental changes commonly caused by humans. In this paper, we push scholarship on ecosyndemics into new territory by using the ecosyndemic framework to compare two case studies-the Southern Interoceanic highway in Peru and the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam in Brazil-to assess the likelihood of socio-environmental factors interacting and leading to ill health in a syndemic fashion. Assessing these two case studies using an ecosyndemic perspective, we find that the construction of dams and highways in tropical forests create the conditions for increases in vector-borne illnesses, surges in sex work and sexually-transmitted infections, and increased psychological stress resulting from violence, delinquency, and the erosion of social cohesion. We suggest that these processes could interact synergistically to increase an individual's immune burden and a population's overall morbidity. However, we find differences in the impacts of the Interoceanic highway and the Belo Monte dam on food, water, and cultural systems, and observed that community and corporate-level actions may bolster health in the face of rapid socio-ecological change. Looking at the case studies together, a complex picture of vulnerability and resilience, risk and opportunity, complicates straight-forward predictions of ecosyndemic interactions resulting from these development projects but highlights the role that the ecosyndemic concept can play in informing health impact assessments and future research. We conclude by proposing a conceptual model of the potential interactions between psychological stress, vector-borne illnesses, and sexaully-transmitted infections and suggest that future investigations of synergistic interactions among these factors draw from the biological, social, and ecological sciences.


Subject(s)
Animal Welfare , Environment , Animals , Brazil , Peru
4.
Soc Sci Med ; 162: 68-78, 2016 08.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-27340916

ABSTRACT

Researchers need measures of vulnerability that are grounded in explicit theoretical and conceptual frameworks, that are sensitive to local contexts, and that are easy to collect. This paper presents the Index of Vulnerability (IoV), a quantitative yet anthropologically-informed method connecting social-ecological systems to mental and physical health outcomes. The IoV combines measures of five life domains; food insecurity, water insecurity, access to healthcare, social support, and social status. Scores on this index increase for each life domain where the individual falls into a "high risk" category. Thus, individuals with the highest IoV scores are those who are at risk across multiple life domains. This approach makes the IoV malleable to local contexts, as scholars can choose which measure of each life domain is most appropriate for their study population. An anthropological study conducted among 225 Awajún adults living in the Peruvian Amazon from March to November of 2013 showed that men with higher IoV scores had significantly lower summary fat skinfolds, lower triglyceride levels, and a greater probability of reporting moderate to severe somatic symptoms and poor perceived health. Awajún women with higher IoV scores had significantly elevated perceived stress levels and a greater probability of reporting poor perceived health and moderate to severe somatic and depressive symptoms. Importantly, comparing the IoV to its constituent parts shows that it predicts a wider range of mental and physical health outcomes than any of the life domains alone. The IoV is presented here in relation to the broader political-economic and cultural context of the Awajún, forwarding a critical biocultural approach within anthropology, and demonstrating the IoV's utility for other scholars and practitioners.


Subject(s)
Anthropology/methods , Socioeconomic Factors , Vulnerable Populations/psychology , Adult , Allostasis , Blood Pressure , Body Mass Index , Depression/epidemiology , Ecosystem , Environmental Health/standards , Environmental Health/statistics & numerical data , Epstein-Barr Virus Nuclear Antigens/analysis , Epstein-Barr Virus Nuclear Antigens/blood , Female , Food Supply/statistics & numerical data , Health Services Accessibility/standards , Health Services Accessibility/statistics & numerical data , Health Status , Humans , Male , Mental Disorders/epidemiology , Peru/epidemiology , Social Support , Stress, Psychological/epidemiology , Triglycerides/analysis , Triglycerides/blood , Vulnerable Populations/statistics & numerical data
5.
Am J Hum Biol ; 24(4): 446-53, 2012.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-22307655

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: Infancy represents a window of development during which long-term immunological functioning can be influenced. In this study, we evaluate proxies of microbial exposures in infancy as predictors of interleukin-4 (IL-4) in young adulthood. IL-4 is an immunoregulatory cytokine that plays a role in the pathogenesis of atopic and allergic diseases. METHODS: Data were obtained from 1,403 participants in the Cebu Longitudinal Health and Nutrition Survey, an ongoing population-based study in the Philippines. Relationships between microbial and nutritional environments in infancy and plasma IL-4 concentrations in adulthood were evaluated using tobit regression models. RESULTS: Having older siblings and more episodes of respiratory illness in infancy significantly predicted lower concentrations of plasma IL-4 in adulthood. Unexpectedly, more episodes of diarrheal illness in infancy were associated with higher IL-4 in adulthood. Interactions between a composite household pathogen exposure score and the duration of exclusive breastfeeding approached significance. This interaction showed that the negative association between household pathogen exposure in infancy and adult IL-4 was only significant for individuals who had been exclusively breastfed for a short duration of time. Finally, currently living in an urban household was unexpectedly, negatively associated with adult IL-4. Associations were independent of early nutrition, socioeconomic status (SES), and urbanicity, as well as current measures of infection, body fat, SES, and smoking. CONCLUSIONS: This study builds on a growing body of literature demonstrating that early ecological conditions have long-term effects on human biology by providing evidence that multiple proxies of microbial exposures in infancy are associated with adult IL-4.


Subject(s)
Communicable Diseases/epidemiology , Diarrhea/epidemiology , Interleukin-4/blood , Respiratory Tract Infections/epidemiology , Age Factors , Birth Order , Breast Feeding , Cohort Studies , Communicable Diseases/microbiology , Diarrhea/microbiology , Family Characteristics , Feces/microbiology , Female , Health Surveys , Humans , Infant, Newborn , Longitudinal Studies , Male , Multivariate Analysis , Philippines/epidemiology , Predictive Value of Tests , Prospective Studies , Regression Analysis , Respiratory Tract Infections/microbiology , Risk Factors , Time Factors , Urban Population , Young Adult
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