BIOMEDICINE AND WOMEN HEALTH: THE PRACTICE OF BIOMEDICINE IN A RURAL AREA OF BANGLADESH

Abstract

Medical anthropology, an interdisciplinary subfield of mainstream anthropology, has become the most popular and potential knowledge that receiving its brawny figure at present world. Biomedicine, a strong concept of medical anthropology includes: the scientific medicine, allopathy medicine, modern medicine and the regular medicine that basically focuses on human biology, pathophysiology, western knowledge and modern technology. It has become globally dominant during this century and well-practiced in developed, developing and less developed countries. This study has explored, what are the local nature, practice and perception of western biomedicine in rural area of Bangladesh. This research paper systematically searches, what type of challenges have to face by the rural women to get access to biomedicine or modern medical service in local hospital and clinics. What a modern technology and scientific knowledge-based treatment system impacted on rural women’s biological and mental health, this paper explores that. Applying Critical Medical Anthropology (CMA) Perspective, this paper has sorted out to identify the socio-cultural and political-economic aspects of biomedicine and what are the impacts of biomedicine on rural women health. What kinds of health problems, rural women are facing and what are the ultimate result of it as practicing biomedicine that will be analyzed here. Using Critical Medical Anthropology (CMA) this study has analyzed the power relation that is found in biomedicine and biomedical health seeking in local hospital and clinics that has become the primary area of social control. This article is a written interpretation of an anthropological fieldwork that was done in 2017, in Kaiba village at Sharsha Upazilla of Jashore district of Bangladesh.