Mind your Language: Discursive Practices Produce Unequal Power and Control Over Infectious Disease: A Critical Discourse Analysis

BACKGROUND: Power, socioeconomic inequalities, and poverty are recognized as some of the fundamental determinants of differences in vulnerability of societies to infectious disease threats. The economic south is carrying a higher burden than those in the economic north. This raises questions about w...

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Autores principales: Mabhala, Mzwandile A., Yohannes, Asmait, Massey, Alan, Reid, John A.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Wolters Kluwer - Medknow 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7187553/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32363024
http://dx.doi.org/10.4103/ijpvm.IJPVM_431_17
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author Mabhala, Mzwandile A.
Yohannes, Asmait
Massey, Alan
Reid, John A.
author_facet Mabhala, Mzwandile A.
Yohannes, Asmait
Massey, Alan
Reid, John A.
author_sort Mabhala, Mzwandile A.
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Power, socioeconomic inequalities, and poverty are recognized as some of the fundamental determinants of differences in vulnerability of societies to infectious disease threats. The economic south is carrying a higher burden than those in the economic north. This raises questions about whether social preventions and biomedical preventions for infectious disease are given equal consideration, and about social institutions and structures that frame the debate about infectious disease. This article examines how institutionalized ways of talking about infectious disease reinforces, creates, and sustains health inequalities. METHODS: Critical discourse analysis was considered to be epistemologically and ontologically consistent with the aims and context of this study. RESULTS: The study examined three types of infectious disease: • Emerging infectious diseases/pathogens • Neglected tropical diseases • Vector-borne infections. Examination revealed that poverty is the most common determinant of all three. CONCLUSIONS: A sustainable reduction in infectious disease in the southern countries is most likely to be achieved through tackling socioeconomic determinants. There is a need for a change in the discourse on infectious disease, and adopt a discourse that promotes self-determination, rather than one that reinforces the hero-victim scenario and power inequalities.
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spelling pubmed-71875532020-05-01 Mind your Language: Discursive Practices Produce Unequal Power and Control Over Infectious Disease: A Critical Discourse Analysis Mabhala, Mzwandile A. Yohannes, Asmait Massey, Alan Reid, John A. Int J Prev Med Review Article BACKGROUND: Power, socioeconomic inequalities, and poverty are recognized as some of the fundamental determinants of differences in vulnerability of societies to infectious disease threats. The economic south is carrying a higher burden than those in the economic north. This raises questions about whether social preventions and biomedical preventions for infectious disease are given equal consideration, and about social institutions and structures that frame the debate about infectious disease. This article examines how institutionalized ways of talking about infectious disease reinforces, creates, and sustains health inequalities. METHODS: Critical discourse analysis was considered to be epistemologically and ontologically consistent with the aims and context of this study. RESULTS: The study examined three types of infectious disease: • Emerging infectious diseases/pathogens • Neglected tropical diseases • Vector-borne infections. Examination revealed that poverty is the most common determinant of all three. CONCLUSIONS: A sustainable reduction in infectious disease in the southern countries is most likely to be achieved through tackling socioeconomic determinants. There is a need for a change in the discourse on infectious disease, and adopt a discourse that promotes self-determination, rather than one that reinforces the hero-victim scenario and power inequalities. Wolters Kluwer - Medknow 2020-03-16 /pmc/articles/PMC7187553/ /pubmed/32363024 http://dx.doi.org/10.4103/ijpvm.IJPVM_431_17 Text en Copyright: © 2020 International Journal of Preventive Medicine http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0 This is an open access journal, and articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as appropriate credit is given and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms.
spellingShingle Review Article
Mabhala, Mzwandile A.
Yohannes, Asmait
Massey, Alan
Reid, John A.
Mind your Language: Discursive Practices Produce Unequal Power and Control Over Infectious Disease: A Critical Discourse Analysis
title Mind your Language: Discursive Practices Produce Unequal Power and Control Over Infectious Disease: A Critical Discourse Analysis
title_full Mind your Language: Discursive Practices Produce Unequal Power and Control Over Infectious Disease: A Critical Discourse Analysis
title_fullStr Mind your Language: Discursive Practices Produce Unequal Power and Control Over Infectious Disease: A Critical Discourse Analysis
title_full_unstemmed Mind your Language: Discursive Practices Produce Unequal Power and Control Over Infectious Disease: A Critical Discourse Analysis
title_short Mind your Language: Discursive Practices Produce Unequal Power and Control Over Infectious Disease: A Critical Discourse Analysis
title_sort mind your language: discursive practices produce unequal power and control over infectious disease: a critical discourse analysis
topic Review Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7187553/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32363024
http://dx.doi.org/10.4103/ijpvm.IJPVM_431_17
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