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16: Contemporary Topics - Human Biology and Health

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  • Page ID
    189123

    • Joylin Namie
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    Learning Objectives

    • Describe the major transitions in patterns of disease that have occurred throughout human evolution.
    • Describe what is meant by a “mismatch” between our evolved biology and contemporary lifestyles and how this is reflected in modern disease patterns.
    • Explain how the human stress response can positively and negatively have an impact on health.
    • Explain what a “syndemic” is and why the COVID-19 pandemic represents one.
    • Describe the ways institutionalized racism and bias in the medical field contributed to different rates of exposure, differential treatment, morbidity, and mortality from COVID-19 for different ethnic groups in the United States.

    Thumbnail: Participants of a walk against diabetes and for general fitness around Nauru airport. Credit: Participants of a walk against Diabetes and for general fitness around Nauru airport by Lorrie Graham, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, is under a CC BY 2.0 License.

    This chapter is a revision from “ Chapter 16: Contemporary Topics: Human Biology and Health ” by Joylin Namie. In Explorations: An Open Invitation to Biological Anthropology, first edition , edited by Beth Shook, Katie Nelson, Kelsie Aguilera, and Lara Braff, which is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0

    This page titled 16: Contemporary Topics - Human Biology and Health is shared under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Joylin Namie (Society for Anthropology in Community Colleges) via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform; a detailed edit history is available upon request.