In industrially developed countries such as the United States, it is conventional to assume that the model of cosmopolitan biomedicine that is employed ought to be extrapolated into global health policy, as well as into industrially underdeveloped countries. However, despite the benefits and advances, it is also arguable that this would be enormously problematic, considering such phenomena as the de-prioritization of primary prevention despite relevant epidemiological research, and the dominance of transnational pharmaceutical corporations with ethically questionable practices. Identifying the problem requires examining the philosophical etiology of the prevalent paradigm in Western thinking. Academic disciplines have inherited a segregative, mechanistic paradigm that has only been extant since the seventeenth century. The process of paradigm entrenchment is explored, and some of its significant modern manifestations in science, technology, and economics are discussed. Acknowledging the value of integrative, multi-dimensional approaches to global and regional healthcare challenges, some new ideas need to be explored for their potential application. For example, the cultivation and consumption of species of the cyanobacterial genus Arthrospira could play a significant role in addressing several problems. Arthrospira species contain high concentrations of nutrients, and have also demonstrated immunomodulatory properties, such as increased interferon-y production and natural-killer cytotoxicity. These microalgae have been harvested in some parts of Sub-Saharan Africa for centuries. An expansion of the production of these microalgae could also generate a local market, which, if partnered with similar strategies in other areas, could contribute to tempering some socio-economic inequity that is in turn associated with lack of access to healthcare.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ucf.edu/oai:stars.library.ucf.edu:honorstheses1990-2015-2093 |
| Date | 01 January 2010 |
| Creators | Rodriguez, Eduardo Xavier |
| Publisher | STARS |
| Source Sets | University of Central Florida |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Source | HIM 1990-2015 |
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