Culture and Health Applying Medical Anthropology - Essay Example

of Lecturer 7 July, Culture and Health Applying Medical Anthropology Two cultural systems models are: Risk factors and protective factors. Risk factors are the influence that the culture of an individual have on the likelihood of them contracting a disease, while protective factors on the other hand is the influence that the culture of an individual have on them not contracting a disease. Risk factors are the cultural conditions that are associated with an increase in the likelihood of diseases, while protective factors are the cultural conditions or behavior that reduces the risk of diseases.

Thus, the two of them are different in all ramifications. Examples of risk factors are: smoking, bad sexual practices and bad hygiene, while examples of protective factors are: sexual restrictions such as monogamy. It is due to these risk and protective factors that some cultures are known for some diseases, while some other cultures stand lesser risks of contracting certain types of diseases (Winkelman 20). There are some environmental and social conditions that affect the health of my community, Montclair, New Jersey.

One of the environmental conditions that have had a negative impact on New Jersey is traffic congestion. This is due to the increase in the volume of vehicles that ply the Montclair route from time to time. The effect that the increased volume of vehicles in the city has on the health of the residents of the city is that it makes them have climate-related health problems. The emission of greenhouse gases by these vehicles causes air pollution and the effect is that it would alter the balance of the climate in the region and the world at large (Silver 27-29).

It has also been observed that the number of smokers in the city have increased rapidly. Smokers stand the risk of contracting heart related diseases and could also get diseases that would affect some vital organs of their body. Thus, the alarming increase in the number of smokers in my place of residence is something that would affect the health of people that live there. It is a known fact that, it is not only smokers that stand these risks, but the people perceiving these smoke. Works Cited Silver, Jerry.

Global Warming and Climate Change Demystified. New York: McGraw-Hill Professional, 2008. Print Winkelman, Michael. Culture and Health Applying Medical Anthropology. New York: Jossey- Bass, 2008. Print.