The Politics of Health and Disease: A Call for a Paradigm Shift in Public Health Education and Interventions The politics of Health and Diseases
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
This white paper introduces The Politics of Health and Diseases as a critical, interdisciplinary framework for understanding how political forces shape the origins, distribution, and treatment of diseases. Building on original contributions including the Biopsychopolitical Model (BPP) of Mental Health and Disorders, the Sociopolitical Health Hegemony Theory (SPHHT), and the concepts of Social Distress Coping Disorders (SDCDs), Multiple Mental Disorders (MMD), Psychocide, Psychoethnicide, Hippocratic Terrorism, and Hippocratic Bioterrorism; the paper argues that ignoring political determinants leads to partial diagnoses and ethically compromised interventions. It critiques the over-commercialization of biomedicine, the distortion of research for economic gain, and the structural violence embedded in health policy. The paper calls for integrating The Politics of Health and Diseases into university curricula to equip future professionals with the analytical tools to confront the political realities that underpin health inequities and to foster systemic transformation toward health justice.
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
The authors retain copyright and permit the journal the copyright of first publication
Articles, once having passed the review process and accepted for publication in the CDMH Journal, are copyrighted under the CDMH Journal, Department of Mental Health, Ministry of Public Health. Please be aware distribution of CDMH Journal content for commercial purposes without permission is expressly prohibited. However, distribution with intent to educate, advocate, or spread awareness within the general public and research communities is permitted and encouraged with the understanding that the CDMH Journal Editorial Board do not hold jurisdiction or liability for any accompanying comments, text, or information from third parties, either in favor for or against the original article’s assertions, conclusions, methodology, or content.
References
Crawford, R. (1977). You are Dangerous to Your Health: The Ideology and Politics of Victim Blaming. International Journal of Health Services, 7(4), 663–680. https://doi.org/10.2190/YU77-T7B1-EN9X-G0PN
Engel, G. (1977). The need for a new medical model: A challenge for biomedicine. Psychodynamic Psychiatry, 40(3), 377–396.
Farmer, P. (2003). Pathologies of power: Health, human rights, and the new war on the poor. University of California Press.
Harari, Y. N. (2017). Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tommorrow. HarperCollins.
Kim, J. Y., Millen, J. V., Irwin, A., & Gershman, J. (2000). Dying for growth: Global inequality and the health of the poor. Partners In Health.
Leaning, J., & Guha-Sapir, D. (2013). Natural disasters, armed conflict, and public health. The New England Journal of Medicine, 369(19), 1836–1842. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMra1109877
Lexchin, J., Bero, L. A., Djulbegovic, B., & Clark, O. (2003). Pharmaceutical industry sponsorship and research outcome and quality: Systematic review. BMJ (Clinical Research Ed.), 326(7400), 1167–1170. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.326.7400.1167
Najman, J. M. (1980). Theories of Diseases Causation and the Concept of a General Susceptibility. So Sci & Med, 14A, 231–237.
Navarro, V. (2009). What we mean by social determinants of health. International Journal of Health Services : Planning, Administration, Evaluation, 39(3), 423–441. https://doi.org/10.2190/HS.39.3.a
Oller, J. W., Broudy, D., Davidson, R. M., Yanowitz, S., & Santiago, D. (2024). True or False? At Least 55 Undeclared Chemical Elements Have Been Detected by ICP-MS in COVID-19 “Vaccines.” International Journal of Vaccine Theory,
Practice, and Research, 3(2), 1394.1-1394.28. https://doi.org/10.56098/98sw8e86
Oller, J. W., Shaw, C. A., Tomljenovic, L., Karanja, S. K., Ngare, W., Clement, F. M., & Pillette, J. R. (2017). HCG Found in WHO Tetanus Vaccine in Kenya Raises Concern in the Developing World. Open Access Library Journal, 4(e3937).
https://doi.org/10.4236/oalib.1103937
Oller, J. W., Shaw, C. A., Tomljenovic, L., Karanja, S. K., Ngare, W., Clement, F. M., & Pillette, J. R. (2020). Addendum to “HCG Found in Tetanus Vaccine”: Examination of Alleged “Ethical Concerns” Based on False Claims by Certain of Our Critics. International Journal of Vaccine Theory, Practice and Research, 1(1), 27–48. https://doi.org/10.56098/ijvtpr.v1i1.3
Packard, R. M. (2016). A History of Global Health: Interventions into the Lives of Other Peoples. Johns Hopkins University Press.
Satyarup, D., Kumar, M., Dalai, R. P., Mohanty, S., & Rathor, K. R. (2020). Theories of Disease Causation: An Overview. Indian Journal of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology, 14(4), 8075–8079.
Schrecker, T., & Bambra, C. (2015). How Politics Make US Sick: Neoliberal Epidemics. Palgrave Macmillan.
Sebahutu, E. E. (2023a). The Conceptualization of Social Distress Coping Disorders (SDCDs): Uncovering the Contemporary Salient Mental Health Threats. International Journal of Child Development and Mental Health, 11(1), 37–52.
Sebahutu, E. E. (2023b). Theoretical Framework for Multiple Mental Disorder and the Biopsychopolitical Model of Mental Illnesses: Underscoring the Pressure of Politics on Citizens’ SocialDeterminants of Mental Illnesses. International Journal of Child Development and Mental Health, 11(2), 31–44.
Sebahutu, E. E. (2024). The Conceptualization of Psychocide and Psychoethnicide: Psychological Warfare’s Impact on Rwandan’s Mental Health. International Journal of Child Development and Mental Health, 12(2), 23–42.
Sebahutu, E. E. (2025). The Sociopolitical Health Hegemony Theory (SPHHT) of Health and Diseases: Towards a Healthier World. International Journal of Child Development and Mental Health, 13(2), 31–48.
Shaw, C. A. (2020). Weaponizing the Peer Review System. International Journal of Vaccine Theory, Practice and Research, 1(1), 11–25. https://doi.org/10.56098/ijvtpr.v1i1.1
Turshen, M. (1999). Privatizing health services in Africa. Rutgers University Press.
WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health. (2008). Closing the gap in a generation: Health equity through action on the social determinants of health. World Health Organization. https://iris.who.int/bitstream/handle/10665/43943/97892?sequence=1
