I. Please answer either A or B
A. How do historical, political, cultural, social, economic factors and decisions influence
and shape healthcare systems? How do these factors influence perception and access
to healthcare? You must use both Fadiman and Reid to answer this question. You may
also use material from lecture.
B. What hinders or limits access to health care? You must use examples and
explanations from each of the three required books for the course. You may also use
examples and concepts that have been discussed in lecture.
II. Please answer either A or B
A) Use the concept of structural violence to discuss Lia Lee’s medical history and health
outcomes.
B) What is disease ecology? What does the political ecology of disease add to the more
traditional human ecology of disease? Use examples from readings and from lecture in
your answer to this question.
III) Please answer either A or B
A) An imaginary island called Nacirema is located in the equatorial region of the Pacific
Ocean. The island is about the size of Vancouver Island. There is one city on the island,
with a population of 1 million. The population of the island is 1.6 million. The country is
very much like the USA in terms of culture, economy, and behavior. A team of
epidemiologists and medical geographers has just found that the prevalence rate for
lung cancer on Nacirema is the highest in the world, particularly in the main city, New
Seattle. What might cause this? Why? You must discuss at least 3 factors.
B. You are the Minister of Health in Nacirema—the country/island described in “A.” You
have been given the power to restructure the health system of the country. You are
sitting in a meeting room in the Yellow House, and are about to describe the health
system that you recommend to the Cabinet and to President Amabo. This is a huge
responsibility? Describe the health system that you recommend. Justify and support
your recommendation? What are the advantages and disadvantages of this system?
Each answer should be no longer than two (2) pages double-spaced, using 12 point
Times New Roman font, and 1” margins. Thus, your entire submission must be
approximately 6 pages long. Any answers exceeding two pages will receive a
penalty. At the beginning of each mini-essay, you should explicitly indicate the prompt
(A or B) to which you are responding.
Try to be creative in your answers. Integrate your own thinking, examples and evidence
from the course materials, and, if you desire, outside research into your answers.
Quality of wring and of style will count in your grade. Make sure that your grammar
checkers and spell checkers are turned on. In recent versions of Word, you do this by
Word>preferences>spelling and grammar. Incorrect spelling and grammar will prevent
you from receiving full credit. In addition to quality of writing, your answers will be
graded on the basis of their reasoning, logic, and analysis, use of specific evidence to
support your arguments, coherence of arguments, clarity of your answers, and logical
flow of your arguments. Do not try to cover the entire topic on which you’re writing, such
as all that you know about HIV/AIDS. This is not an exam in which we expect you to
“parrot back” all that you have learned. It is an exam where we want you to think.
You must cite any sources that you use. You should include all your citations in one
bibliography at the end of your 6 pages; Any standard citation style will be satisfactory,
but do not make up your own citation style. The style must be consistent throughout the
essays.
Please use the three books I provided for those 3 essay questions. and dont go over 6 pages, 2 pages maximum for each question.
