Culture Matters PDF

Cultural Contexts of Health and Well-being
Policy brief, No. 1

Culture matters:
Principal author and editor
A. David Napier
using a cultural
Co-authors contexts of health
Michael Depledge, Michael Knipper,
Rebecca Lovell, Eduard Ponarin,
Emilia Sanabria, Felicity Thomas
approach to enhance
policy-making
The World Health Organization was established in 1948 as the
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Organizations principal objective the attainment by all people
of the highest possible level of health.
Policy brief, No. 1

Culture matters:
A. David Napier
using a cultural
approach to enhance
policy-making
ABSTRACT
This policy brief has been developed in response to the increasing awareness among policy-makers and the public health community
of the important relationship between culture and health. By exploring the three key public health areas of nutrition, migration
and environment, the policy brief demonstrates how cultural awareness is central to understanding health and well-being and to
developing more effective and equitable health policies. Consequently, it argues that public health policy-making has much to gain
from applying research from the health-related humanities and social sciences.
KEYWORDS
CULTURAL COMPETENCY
CULTURE
HEALTH KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDES, PRACTICE
HEALTH POLICY
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Policy brief, No. 1

Culture matters:
A. David Napier
using a cultural
approach to enhance
policy-making
BACKGROUND
This policy brief was developed through the WHO Regional Office for Europe. The cultural contexts of health team of the Division of
Information, Evidence, Research and Innovation, including Claudia Stein (Director), Nils Fietje (Research Officer) and Signe Nipper
Nielsen (Consultant), was responsible for and coordinated its development.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The WHO Regional Office for Europe wishes in particular to thank the principal author and editor and the six co-authors for
their valuable contributions. In addition, members of the WHO expert group on the cultural contexts of health and well-being
and a number of commentators contributed substantially to shaping and enriching the policy brief with their comments and expertise.
The authors and the WHO Regional Office for Europe therefore thank the members of the expert group on the cultural contexts of
health and well-being as well as the following commentators: Mabel Gracia Arnaiz (Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology,
Philosophy and Social Work, Rovira i Virgili University, Spain), Hakan Ertin (Associate Professor, Department of History of Medicine
and Ethics, Istanbul University, Turkey), Lotte Holm (Professor, Sociology of Food, Department of Food and Resource Economics,
University of Copenhagen, Denmark), Robin A. Kearns (Professor of Geography, School of Environment, University of Auckland, New
Zealand), Agnieszka Maj (Assistant Professor, Department of Social Sciences, Warsaw University of Life Sciences SGGW, Poland), Ilkka
Pietil (Senior Research Fellow, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Tampere, Finland), Suvi Salmenniemi (Associate Professor
of Sociology, Department of Social Research, University of Turku, Finland), Baktygul Tulebaeva (PhD candidate, Research Assistant,
Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany), and Catharine Ward Thompson (Professor
of Landscape Architecture, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom). Thanks also to Jessica Frances Marais, who provided skilful
content and language editing. The Wellcome Trust generously funded the policy brief.
AUTHORS

A. David Napier (Professor of Medical Anthropology, Department of Anthropology, University College London, United Kingdom)
Co-authors
Michael Depledge (Professor of Environment and Human health, European Centre for Environment and Human Health, University
of Exeter Medical School, United Kingdom)
Michael Knipper (Associate Professor, Institute of the History of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Justus Liebig University, Germany)
Rebecca Lovell (Research Fellow, Biodiversity and Health, European Centre for Environment and Human Health, University of
Exeter Medical School, United Kingdom)
Eduard Ponarin (Professor and Director, Laboratory for Comparative Social Research, National Research University, Higher School
of Economics, Russian Federation)
Emilia Sanabria (Lecturer in Social Anthropology, Department of Social Sciences, cole Normale Suprieure de Lyon, France)
Felicity Thomas (Senior Research Fellow, University of Exeter Medical School, and Co-Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre
on Culture and Health, University of Exeter, United Kingdom)
v
Contents
Summary....................................................................................................................................vi
Executive summary......................................................................................................... viii
Background............................................................................................................. viii
Policy options............................................................................................................ xi
References.............................................................................................................................. xiii
Section I: Understanding culture, health and well-being................................ 1
What is culture?.......................................................................................................... 1

Expanding the evidence base on the cultural
contexts of health and well-being....................................................................2
Policy options.............................................................................................................. 3
Section II. Key themes......................................................................................................... 6
1) Nutrition, culture and health........................................................................ 6
2) Environment, culture and health..............................................................12
3) Migration, culture and health..................................................................... 19
Conclusion................................................................................................................................26
References................................................................................................................................. 27
vi Culture matters: using a cultural contexts of health approach to enhance policy-making
Summary
In the WHO European Region, the roll-out of the policy framework
Health 2020 effectively reintroduced well-being as a central concern
for WHO, re-engaging public health with the full complexity of
subjective, lived experience and opening the door to a more systematic
engagement with the cultural contexts of health and well-being. This
shift was reinforced by the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development, which provides an additional mandate for seeking to
understand and address cultural contexts. Like Health 2020, the 2030
Agenda asserts that tackling some of the most pressing global problems
health inequities included requires people-centred, whole-of-society
approaches as well as multidisciplinary and multisectoral partnerships.
It calls for a new evidence base that affirms the relevance of cultural
contexts of health and well-being to policy development.
This policy brief, developed through the WHO Regional Office for
Europe together with its expert group on the cultural contexts
of health and well-being, forms part of a larger project aimed at
promoting a culturally grounded approach to enrich policies related to
health and well-being. The project on the cultural contexts of health
and well-being argues that incorporating cultural awareness into
policy-making is critical to the development of adaptive, equitable and
sustainable health care systems, and to making general improvements
in many areas of population health and well-being.
Recognizing that population health and well-being are to a large degree

influenced by policies and actions external to health care systems, this
policy brief also advocates for a health-in-all-policies approach, and an
enhanced understanding of how policies in non-health domains can
foster or constrain a culture for health and well-being.
To these ends, it presents a robust definition of culture and outlines

key options for health policy-makers to consider. Among them is the
strong recommendation that policy-makers critically examine their
own shared values and priorities related to health and well-being,
and how these influence daily practices and decision-making. This
involves reevaluating assumptions about what constitutes evidence,
and supporting strategies that integrate the complexities of lived
experience into an expanded evidence base. Such strategies include
efforts to more fully recognize and include findings from the health-
Policy brief, no. 1 vii
related humanities and social sciences, and from broader public health
and health services research.
While culture is highly applicable to a broad range of issues both within

and outside the health sector, this brief explores three key areas where
shared conventional beliefs, practices and values can have profound
impacts on health and well-being: nutrition, where giving and receiving
nourishment is deeply social; the environment, where spaces are
diversely understood and shared; and migration, where conventional
understandings of health and well-being converge or diverge in
multicultural contexts.
Addressing the ways in which values are embodied and lived out in
these and other areas can have a significant impact on health and well-
being outcomes. With this in mind, the policy brief encourages policy-
makers to engage critically and creatively with the material presented
here, and to adopt an inclusive approach to improving health and well-
being policies by taking cultural contexts into account.
viii Culture matters: using a cultural contexts of health approach to enhance policy-making
Executive Summary
Background
In 2015, upon acknowledging the importance of culture to health and

well-being, the WHO Regional Office for Europe convened its first
expert group on the cultural contexts of health and well-being (1). This
came as a response to a growing body of evidence demonstrating that
the best medical care in the world remains limited if its provision does
not align with the priorities and perceived needs of those it seeks to
serve. Indeed, the authors of the 2014 Lancet Commission on Culture
and Health argued that the systematic neglect of culture in health
and health care is the single biggest barrier to the advancement of the
highest standard of health worldwide (2).
The Regional Offices new focus on culture is reflected in the two

strategic frameworks that underpin the project on the cultural
contexts of health and well-being: the European policy framework
Health 2020 (3) and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (4).
With the adoption of Health 2020, WHOs strategic emphasis shifted
towards a values base that emphasizes a life-course perspective,
multisectoral and interdisciplinary engagement, and a people-centred,
whole-of-society approach to health and well-being. The 2030 Agenda
and its Sustainable Development Goals reinforce this values base,
and call for alternative ways of empowering and giving voice to
marginalized groups. In this quest, narrative and qualitative research
as well as culture-centred approaches from the humanities and social
sciences have much to offer.
In 2001, the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural

Organization defined culture as the set of distinctive spiritual,
material, intellectual and emotional features of society or a social
group [which] encompasses, in addition to art and literature, lifestyles,
ways of living together, value systems, traditions and beliefs (5). This
definition highlights the fact that culture comprises not only the
physical artefacts around which group identity emerges, but also the
conventions that frame our sense of reality. While shared and coherent,
culture is not a static set of beliefs and practices, but rather an ever-
emerging array of collective values, ethics, assumptions and ideals.
Other cultures are as dynamic as our own.
Policy brief, no. 1 xi
Though the shared values of cultural contexts are complex,

understanding them is critical to health and well-being policy
development for several reasons.
First, an awareness of cultural contexts shows people the relative nature

of values we often assume to be universal. In examining them we
challenge ourselves to assess what we take for granted, and to rethink
our inductive assumptions about what will make us all healthier.
Second, an awareness of cultural contexts allows us to better

understand the compounding influences of diverse but interrelated
determinants, such as socioeconomic status, environmental conditions,
age, gender, religion, sexual orientation and level of education (6). While
alienation and marginalization are key upstream determinants for any
number of illnesses and vulnerabilities, cultural understanding can be
a source of health resilience in a rapidly changing world.
Third, because pathways of care are built upon a foundation of shared

values, an awareness of cultural contexts offers new models of care
that take into account more than just biology and medicine.
Fourth, because diverging value systems, health beliefs and views

about sharing can either promote or limit the equal distribution of
health resources, an awareness of cultural contexts is critical to
health equity.
Our experiences of health and well-being are fundamentally influenced

by the cultural contexts from which we make meaning. These
frameworks inform the beliefs and actions of policy-makers and health
care practitioners as much as the people they serve. For this reason,
policy-makers must seek not only to understand the values they
attribute to others, but also to critically examine their own cultures
their perceptions, daily practices and processes of decision-making
and their effects on people who may or may not share the same values
and priorities.
Cultivating this self-awareness involves recognizing that all forms

of knowledge and practice including scientific and medical
are influenced by culture. This calls for a careful examination of
assumptions about appropriate data collection and analysis methods,
and about what constitutes evidence. Many researchers point out that
x Culture matters: using a cultural contexts of health approach to enhance policy-making
an historical bias towards quantitative studies in public health has

resulted in an evidence base that, while offering much in the way of
figures and statistics, provides less insight into localized, subjective
experiences of well-being and illness, or perceived health risks and
related human behaviours.
It is clear that randomized control trials based on a limited set of

variables cannot yield a nuanced understanding of how risk factors
are compounded in daily life (7). Furthermore, no degree of research
quantitative or qualitative can adequately reflect the diversity and
complexity of human societies and inform truly equitable policies when
vulnerable groups face barriers to participation. Critical resources may
be wasted when funnelled into reductive or inadvertently exclusionary
studies, and into the limited policies and programmes that they inform.
There are, therefore, ethical, epistemological and economic imperatives

for considering the cultural contexts of health and well-being.
With these imperatives in mind, the Regional Offices expert group
urges policy-makers to engage with an expanded evidence base
that incorporates mixed-methods research from the health-related
humanities and social sciences. Such integrated work will contribute to
a health evidence base grounded in peoples lived experience.
With a heightened awareness of both the strengths and weaknesses of

different kinds of research techniques and data, and a determination to
support new forms of evidence, policy-makers will be better positioned
to foster individual and community resilience in the face of emerging
health challenges.
To this end, this policy brief sets out to do three things:
1. to make the case for attending to the cultural contexts of health
and well-being;
to offer specific suggestions to help policy-makers understand

2.
and incorporate the cultural contexts of health and well-being
into effective working practice; and
3. to provide examples of how cultural awareness can improve

understanding of the drivers of health and well-being in three
key domains: nutrition, the environment and migration.
Policy brief, no. 1 xi
Policy options and key themes
Section I of this policy brief examines the concept of culture, explores

its interconnections with health and well-being, and identifies the
pressing need for a new focus on integrated research methods. It
presents the following eight policy options for consideration by all
policy-makers working on issues related to the cultural contexts
of health and well-being. While these options can be viewed as
progressive steps, they are by nature iterative and interdependent.
1. romote an understanding of the interrelationship between

P
culture and health.
2.
Develop clear opportunities and guidance for policy-makers to
explore and reflect upon their own cultural conventions and
how these influence perception and decision-making.
3.
Support an expanded evidence base that includes research
from the humanities and social sciences, with a focus on mixed-
methods research on the social and cultural drivers of health
and well-being.
4. I ncorporate subjective definitions, experiences and

measurements into health and well-being policy development
in order to better identify and address the needs of diverse
groups and to better interpret quantitative information.
Identify ethical dilemmas that may arise when systems of

5.
value related to health and health care diverge.
6. Support the development of instruments that increase

knowledge of the importance of culture to health and well-
being, and measures for evaluating the cultural competency of
services and policies.
7. I ncrease capacity for working intersectorally by introducing

well-being and culture as central elements of a health-in-all-
policies approach.
8. Share good practices.

xii Culture matters: using a cultural contexts of health approach to enhance policy-making
Section II of this policy brief demonstrates how cultural contexts

impact health and well-being in both positive and negative ways within
three key areas.
1.
Nutrition: effective policy-making on nutrition means
understanding how cultural contexts impact food choices that
lead to better or worse outcomes, and how food practices can
reinforce or destabilize health and well-being, social trust, and
community resilience.
2. he environment: effective policy-making on the environment

T
means investigating how relationships to our surroundings
are culturally mediated, how this impacts health and well-
being, and how to ensure equitable access to health-promoting
natural spaces.
3.
Migration: effective policy-making on migration and health
means examining how culture mediates both caregiving and
care receiving in cross-cultural and multicultural contexts, and
addressing the urgent need for culturally sensitive assessments
of health and well-being as well as relevant approaches to
health care delivery.
Policy brief, no. 1 xiii
References
1. Beyond bias: exploring the cultural contexts of health and
well-being measurement. Copenhagen: WHO Regional Office
for Europe; 2016 (http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_
file/0008/284903/Cultural-contexts-health.pdf, accessed
13 February 2017).
2. Napier AD, Ancarno C, Butler B, Calabrese J, Chater A,

Chatterjee H et al. Culture and health. Lancet 2014;384:160739.
doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(14)61603-2.
3. Health 2020: the European policy for health and well-being

[website]. Copenhagen: WHO Regional Office for Europe; 2015
(http://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/health-policy/
health-2020-the-european-policy-for-health-and-well-being,
accessed 13 February 2017).
4. The Sustainable Development Agenda [website].

New York: United Nations; 2017 http://www.un.org/
sustainabledevelopment/development-agenda/, accessed
13 February 2017).
5. UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity [website].

Paris: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization; 2001 (http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_
ID=13179&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html,
6. Social determinants of health [website]. Copenhagen: WHO

Regional Office for Europe; 2017 (http://www.euro.who.int/
en/health-topics/health-determinants/social-determinants,
7. Adams V, Burke NJ, Whitmarsh I. Slow research: thoughts for

a movement in global health. Med Anthropol. 2014;33(3):17997.
doi:10.1080/01459740.2013.858335.
Policy brief, no. 1 1
Section I: Understanding culture, health

and well-being
What is culture?
In 2001, the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural

Organization (UNESCO) defined culture as the set of distinctive
spiritual, material, intellectual and emotional features of society or
a social group [which] encompasses, in addition to art and literature,
lifestyles, ways of living together, value systems, traditions and beliefs
(1). This definition stresses that culture is not limited to national, racial,
ethnic or religious affiliation it is comprised of overt beliefs and
practices as well as the subtle and taken-for-granted conventions that
frame our sense of reality, define what is normal and abnormal, and
give our lives a sense of direction and purpose (2).
Culture, in other words, is something all humans have and depend

upon for making meaning. It sets the diverse and shifting parameters
within which decisions and actions unfold in the context of families,
communities, workplaces, peer groups and environments. The creative
practice of culture in daily life influences how we perceive ourselves,
one another and our place in the natural world and yet culture itself
can be remarkably difficult to see.
Precisely because culture concerns more than what we acknowledge

explicitly, recognizing it involves the difficult work of scrutinizing
assumptions, questioning perceived truths and appreciating how
shared group values can, for better or worse, sharply diverge: for better
when difference helps us creatively to adjust our assumptions; for
worse when difference leads to misunderstanding and conflict.
Organizations, educational institutions and professions also develop

"Culture is not limited to cultures and microcultures that display particular patterns of thought
national, racial, ethnic or and practice (35). Without concerted efforts to explore, understand
religious affiliation it is and challenge the interplay of overt and covert beliefs at work within
comprised of overt beliefs organizational cultures, counterproductive biases and behaviours
and practices as well as can persist. Many public health professionals recognize that failing to
the subtle and taken-for- consider the cultural contexts of their professional actions can impede
granted conventions that their ability to improve working practices, and to identify productive
frame our sense of reality." innovations and scale them up. This has weakened the capacity of
2 Culture matters: using a cultural contexts of health approach to enhance policy-making
public health systems to respond effectively to the health needs of

diverse populations, and subsequently sparked a renewed interest in
developing a culturally informed approach to health and well-being.
The European policy framework Health 2020 emerged within this

context of increased cultural awareness (6). Recognizing the relevance
of shared values for well-being, it explicitly calls for new well-being
measurements that account for the effects of culturally mediated
experiences of illness and health. Developing these measurements
involves understanding, validating and actively supporting the ways
in which diverse and interrelated cultural practices can enhance
solidarity and resilience. As outlined in Sustainable Development Goal
17, it also involves working across diverse cultural sectors, professional
groups and domains of policy expertise (7). This requires nothing short
of a whole-of-society and whole-of-government approach one that
builds on the shared values of individuals to foster new forms of critical
thinking, everyday cooperation and sustained social trust both locally
and globally.
Expanding the evidence base on the cultural contexts of

health and well-being
In traditional health impact assessments, policy-makers use broad

mortality and morbidity data to inform policy recommendations, often
without a clear understanding of the cultural contexts that influence
individual and societal behaviours. The resulting reports and policies,
though based on carefully compiled statistical evidence, can be out of
step with peoples subjectively defined experiences and perceived needs,
as well as what is feasible at the level of policy.
In response to this frequent disconnect between evidence, social

need and health policy, Member States in the culturally diverse WHO
European Region agreed on a framework of indicators for measuring
and reporting on both objective and subjective health and well-
being. However, these measurements are principally built on indices
that, while useful in assessing levels of perceived satisfaction and
happiness in a given population, fall short of illuminating the shared
meanings and values on which well-being is based. In the absence of
a clear understanding of the cultural contexts that influence both the
questionnaires and participants responses to them, assessing what such
measures actually mean becomes difficult and at times conjectural (8).
"It is clear that innovative In addition, vulnerable populations often lack opportunities to
and adaptive mixed- become involved in well-being studies or feel reluctant to do so,
methods research is particularly when their situation leaves them feeling alienated or when
essential to advancing daily survival is a pressing concern. When this is the case, tools for
human health and measuring well-being can unintentionally reinforce power imbalances
well-being." that deny certain groups a voice in the decision-making processes that
affect their lives.
Such biases in data collection are particularly evident in transitional

or otherwise unstable social settings, such as those impacted by food
scarcity, climate change, economic hardship, large-scale migration and/
or unanticipated human conflict. Under these pressures, vulnerabilities
and inequalities can intensify in ways that are not amenable to
traditional methods of data collection; without an evidence base that
can shape an appropriate inquiry into local forms of suffering, numbers
can be as deceptive as they are informative.
In order to produce relevant and adaptive health policies and

programmes, policy-makers must examine how communities, as
cultures of practice, adjust to diverse and complex stressors. Here,
measuring inequality becomes impossible without a close assessment
of vulnerability and resilience as they emerge locally. This being the
case, qualitative research strategies provide the best frameworks
for informing the interpretation of quantitative data, controlling for
unconscious biases, and assessing the appropriateness of measurement
instruments as well as assistance efforts. In this light, it is clear that
innovative and adaptive mixed-methods research is essential to
advancing human health and well-being (9,10).
Policy options
To support the development of balanced and integrated data

collection and analysis, the following eight policy options are offered
for consideration by policy-makers. While they can be viewed as
progressive steps, they are by nature iterative and interdependent.
1.
Promote an understanding of the interrelationship between
culture and health. This requires a definition of culture that
resists conflation with race or ethnicity, and underscores that
all thought and behaviour is informed by cultures of value
and practice.
2.
Develop clear opportunities and guidance for policy-makers to
explore and reflect upon their own cultural conventions and
how these influence perception and decision-making. These
could include a range of self-evaluative workshops, diversity
education training programmes and other activities that build
heightened self-awareness and enhanced communication skills
regarding shared practices and perceptions.
3.
Support an expanded evidence base that includes research
from the humanities and social sciences, with a focus on
mixed-methods research on the social and cultural drivers of
health and well-being. This requires the inclusion of diverse
voices, the development of methods for asserting the place of
lived experience as recognized and valued evidence, and the
integration of qualitative findings into quantitative data sets.
4.
Incorporate subjective definitions, experiences and
measurements into health and well-being policy development
in order to better identify and address the needs of diverse
groups and to better interpret quantitative information.
This requires the development of new vulnerability and
resilience assessment strategies, and could involve the use of
interactive communication platforms to facilitate ongoing
exchanges among researchers, individuals and communities
related to perceptions of health, well-being, illness and
treatment practices.
5.
Identify ethical dilemmas that may arise when systems of
value related to health and health care diverge. This requires
the creation of inclusive public settings (for example, open
policy forums and policy-driven web-based discussions) in
which those with a lesser voice can directly inform policy-
makers about obstacles to adherence and prevention, and/or
the training of new professionals to assess, understand and
represent the health needs of culturally diverse communities.
6.
Support the development of instruments that increase
knowledge of the importance of culture to health and well-
being, and measures for evaluating the cultural competency
of services and policies. Such instruments could include
cultural competency toolkits, training workshops, knowledge
translation platforms and other support mechanisms. Such
initiatives should be evaluated both quantitatively (using

appropriate indicators) and qualitatively (for example, using
narrative methods).
7.
Increase capacity for working intersectorally by introducing
well-being and culture as central elements of a health-in-
all-policies approach. This must be demonstrated through
significant, visible commitment on the part of policy-makers to
a whole-of-society and whole-of-government approach.
8.
Share good practices. A culturally grounded approach to health
and well-being benefits from a multiplicity of perspectives, and
from new settings in which good practices can be shared. As
communities experiment with new strategies and practices,
it will be critical to document and disseminate successful
innovations that are replicable and scalable.
Section II. Key themes
1) Nutrition, culture and health
Understanding food as culture
In 2014, UNESCO included the Mediterranean diet on its 2013

Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
The list describes this diet as a set of skills, knowledge, rituals, symbols
and traditions concerning crops, harvesting, fishing, animal husbandry,
conservation, processing, cooking, and particularly the sharing and
consumption of food (11). In making this designation, and in asserting
that this diet emphasizes values of hospitality, neighbourliness,
intercultural dialogue and creativity, and a way of life guided by
respect for diversity (11), UNESCO acknowledges that eating with
others forms the basis of cultural identity and community cohesion
throughout the Mediterranean basin.
While the concept of a homogenous or pristine Mediterranean diet is

contested, UNESCOs designation of a whole approach to eating
(rather than merely a particular dish) as a form of cultural heritage
affirms that eating is never just about nutrition. The tasks of sourcing
and preparing meals, the ways in which we share them and the
messages they convey are all core aspects of what food is. Eating
effectively roots us within communities of shared tastes, common
habits and collective histories.
Research confirms that the act of receiving food the first behaviour
through which humans learn to create and sustain relationships with
others is infused with meaning and symbolism that emerges socially
and culturally (12). As a concrete vehicle for building relationships, the
"Alimentary health, and shared meal has immeasurable sociological significance (1320). Values
the attempts of policy- related to hunger, satiety, excess, pleasure, satisfaction and restraint
makers to support or are all expressed through the experience of imbibing food with others,
improve it, must be and have direct impacts on food choices and health outcomes. As such,
viewed within the alimentary health, and the attempts of policy-makers to support or
framework of culture." improve it, must be viewed within the framework of culture.
Moving beyond nutritionism
Customary shared eating practices are altered, distorted and

sometimes lost through processes of migration, urbanization and
globalization. These alterations in traditional food sharing practices
are often propelled by the demands of modern life, in the face of which
symbolic group meals can disappear or become relegated to periodic
feasts where the consumption of traditional foods may, paradoxically,
be exaggerated. As people shift away from traditional and symbolic
sharing habits, they are more likely to treat the consumption of food
as a basic nutritional necessity. This is evidenced in the increasingly
common practices of eating out and eating alone. It is also reflected in
new understandings of the function of food, and in particular a strong
focus on the biological value of its isolated nutrients on what we eat
rather than why we eat what we do.
This ideology, known as nutritional reductionism or nutritionism,

bypasses the social meaning of food in favour of measuring nutritional
content and making related recommendations regarding healthy food
intake. This science-oriented shift in the way people assess the value
of food manifests in the norms of counting calories, recommended
daily allowances, macro and micronutrients, assumed health foods,
etc. While understanding nutritional content is important for healthy
eating, this objectification of food not only strips it of its historical
and cultural meaning, but also frequently leads to disagreement
and confusion regarding what constitutes a healthy diet (2127).
Nutritionists and policy-makers tend to address this with calls for
more research on nutrient intake and new labelling requirements
designed to encourage better food choices, and yet eating behaviours
do not always follow suit (28).
The nutritionist approach appeals to individuals as rational beings

engaged in free and autonomous decision-making processes,
unconstrained by cultural, economic, environmental or social
factors. Given the deep social and cultural importance of food,
however, an exclusively nutritionist focus is problematic (29). While
many people are acutely aware of nutritional information and
dietary guidelines, daily food choices are powerfully mediated by
economic concerns and food availability as well as family habits,
personal tastes, cultural preferences and beliefs about food safety
(3032). In other words, health messaging based on biology and
chemistry alone will fail to transform food choices unless following
recommended guidelines is feasible or already conventional for

individuals and their families.
Even when nutritional information is fully understood, social factors

may prove more relevant to health than counting calories or servings
of fruits and vegetables. Studies among individuals who participate in
controlled experiments designed to test the health effects of particular
diets, for example, show that, after programmes end, participants stop
adhering to recommended regimes (3335). The same holds true for
those who participate in controlled studies on the effects of exercise
programmes: adherence drops sharply once group engagement ends
and the strong influence of shared social meaning and support is
absent (36). Indeed, some evidence points to greater weight gain after
a year of following a diet in up to 80% of cases (37). These outcomes
point to the powerful impact of shared conventions and social
integration on health.
Value systems and other cultural factors, such as education and

income, also play critical roles in shaping peoples short- and long-term
responses to health messages. Shared values and assumptions can form
barriers when, for example, people perceive that only particular social
groups purchase so-called health foods (38). Thus, a culturally grounded
approach to nutrition is not only necessary for understanding the
various ways in which individual behaviour is influenced in real life; it
can also be a critical lever in dismantling perceived barriers and helping
people to develop a sense of shared identity around health-promoting
choices and behaviours.
The national food guidelines of Brazils Ministry of Health offer

an excellent example of a culturally grounded approach (39). The
guidelines are explicitly food-based, rather than nutrient-based, and
enshrine peoples right to access sustainably produced and culturally
appropriate food throughout the life-course. In focusing on valued
1
Brazilian nutritionists developed the healthy foods in addition to nutritional content, the guidelines build
guidelines with a wide variety of sources, on the acknowledgement that the health benefits of particular diets
including anthropology, gastronomy stem in large part from the social and cultural settings in which food
and political activism. This diversity of is infused with meaning. These contexts of meaning include how food
perspectives contributes to the holism of is grown, raised, gathered, prepared, shared and, ultimately, enjoyed. 1
the guidelines, which speak of both biology The Brazilian model clearly promotes the concept that healthy eating
and culture; of food practices rather than includes much more than caloric input. As with the Mediterranean
eating habits; of meals rather than food diet, conviviality, identity, belonging and memory are also important
consumption; even of pleasure. ingredients in a truly nourishing meal.
While calculations of nutritional content have undoubtedly

contributed to raising public awareness and strengthening
population-level interventions, an exclusively nutritionist approach
that decontextualizes food and food habits obscures the experiential
settings in which we make sense of nutritional advice and consider
altering our behaviours (see Box 1). Nutritionisms implicit emphasis
on biological functionalism also reinforces social values related to
personal responsibility and the perfectibility of the body, rather than
the myriad ways in which food acts as a medium for caring, social
connectivity and memory (40,41). In doing so, it replaces a culture of
sharing with one of individual action.
Though nutritional advice appears value-neutral, it too is constructed

within the context of a belief system about health self-management.
As an ideology, nutritionism is a cultural phenomenon a determining
force that has transformed not only the way we experience food, but
also the kind of research that is valued, funded and referred to in policy
decision-making. Seeing nutritionism as a culturally generated ideology
can help to explain why the evidence base for the powerful role of
cultural factors in food-related noncommunicable diseases is still so
weak (2,8,28,33,38), and why policy-makers are just beginning to grasp
the degree to which cultural approaches can change unhealthy habits.
Engaging critically with the food marketplace
In providing a convenient framework for marketing processed foods,

nutritionism has also played a key role in the commodification of
food production and consumption (42). By exploiting and expanding
the ideology of nutritionism, food corporations are able to promote
packaged products using reductive nutrition claims that are not
always verifiable (2123). As these food brands are aggressively
advertised particularly to children traditional food cultures that
have sustained population health in culturally and ecologically
appropriate ways for centuries are rapidly transformed, displaced or
stigmatized as outdated (43,44).
At the same time, the rapid industrialization of food systems is

dramatically altering cultural approaches to eating. Food is now
promoted as a privatized commodity, rather than a common public
good (20), and family meals are being replaced with prepackaged, shelf-
stable foods for consumption (and overconsumption) anywhere and at
any time. Fresh and minimally processed foods are harder to source
Box 1. Sociocultural aspects of the diabetes epidemic
WHO estimates that 415 million people across the globe currently live with diabetes. 1 To put this number in
perspective, if these people were to form a country, it would be the third-most populated country the world.
Whats more, a single risk factor for diabetes overweight and obesity is a reality for about 2.1 billion
people: 30% of the planets population. If not reversed, diabetes-related mortality and morbidity are predicted
to crush entire health care systems in the next 15 to 20 years. The cost of this epidemic in terms of both
human suffering and economic burden is devastating.
Most of us think of diabetes as principally a clinical illness, and yet, in some countries, more than 90% of
diabetes mortality and morbidity is socially and culturally mediated either by non-diagnosis or by non-
adherence to treatment. According to the
so-called rule of halves, only half of those
living with diabetes have been diagnosed;
among those who are diagnosed, only
half are treated; among those receiving
treatment, only half are adhering to
recommended regimens; and finally, among
those who adhere, only half are achieving
treatment targets. 2
The rule of halves (illustrated below) is

merely a broad framework against which
performances in various health care
settings can be measured and compared,
but it provides a graphic representation
of how only a very small proportion
of peoples experience of diabetes is
biomedical. It sheds light on the failure of
clinical care to single-handedly address
the diabetes epidemic, and on the critical
importance of nonclinical determinants
for health. The rule of halves reminds us
that, regardless of an individuals social,
cultural, psychological, environmental
and economic context, medical care alone
cannot manage their illness well.
1
WHO Noncommunicable diseases factsheet [website]. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2015 (http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs355/en/, accessed 10 February 2017).
2
Hart JT. Rule of halves: implications of increasing diagnosis and reducing dropout for future workload and prescribing costs in primary care. Br J Gen Pract. 1992;42(356):11619.
and often more expensive, and the cooking skills required to prepare
them are vanishing. Entire urban neighbourhoods are now classified
as so-called food deserts areas where affordable and nutritious foods
are no longer accessible without sufficient income and/or access to an
automobile (45).
Industrialization has also had a deep impact on farming cultures

around the world, enticing or pressuring farmers to abandon
ecologically sound growing methods to enter and compete in global
cash-crop economies (46). Such rapid change threatens both biological
and culinary diversity: where local farmers and foragers may once
have provided hundreds, even thousands, of different nutritionally
and culturally significant foods for local and regional communities,
industrial farms now produce only a handful of high-yield, transport-
hardy crops destined for immediate export (4749).
The implications of these changes for the health and well-being of food
producers themselves are startling. In India, for example, thousands
of suicides are attributed to small-scale farmers inability to afford
the continual purchase of patented, genetically modified seeds and
accompanying pesticides on which their incomes, and depleted soils,
have come to depend (50).
Such profound shifts demand that policy-makers engage critically

with the industrialized food cultures now being promoted across the
globe, and with the ways in which evidence about what counts as good
food is constructed and promoted (51).
Policy options
In addition to the broad policy options outlined above, the following

five specific policy options for those working in nutrition-related
programmes are put forward.
1.
Support research for an evidence base that affirms food and
eating as expressions of culture.
2. ecognize how the cultural contexts of food selection,

R
preparation and sharing can strengthen community health
and well-being, and consider how these social contexts can be
supported at the level of policy.
3. In partnership with communities, identify food promotion

strategies that build on cultural practices that enhance health
and well-being.
4.
Ensure that healthy-eating messaging addresses the
experiential contexts in which people make sense of
nutritional advice and change their behaviours.
5. ngage critically and from a variety of perspectives (historical,

E
social, ethical) with the industrialized food marketplace.
2) Environment, culture and health
Cultural conceptions of the environment
While human health is directly linked to that of the environment

through air, water, sunlight and soil, ideas of nature and the place
of humans within it are deeply influenced by social and cultural
contexts. The same river, for example, may appear to different people
as a pleasant backdrop for conversation and exercise, a sacred site for
prayer or contemplation, a location for lucrative development, a link
to personal memories or shared cultural history, the embodiment of
group or individual identity, a convenient waste disposal site, a wild
landscape to be protected from human influence, or a place to gather
food. Just as a meal is never simply a collection of nutrients, a river
viewed through human eyes is never simply flowing water.
Depending on what is considered normative, we may speak of the

environment using metaphors from economics (natural capital),
urban planning (green space), biology (ecosystem), or systems
of kinship (mother earth) and related cosmologies (52). Through
culturally mediated ideologies and linguistic systems, we see and
relate to our environments differently, sharing and expressing
collective values and engaging in seemingly self-evident and logical
decision-making processes and actions. Diverse perceptions of
the environment also shape thoughts about well-being and health
behaviours in profound and often unconscious ways.
Like all relationships, those between people and environments are

fluid and evolving. This evolution at times slow and subtle, at others
sudden and dramatic is prompted by complex and interrelated
factors such as education; economics; urbanization; industrialization;

migration; inequality resulting from individual greed, political
oppression, or social or armed conflict; and hunger and scarcity
brought on by population growth and related resource depletion.
When critical demands are made upon people and landscapes, overuse
or abuse can lead to broad scale and chronic environmental neglect,
further intensifying pressure on human health and well-being even
on survival.
Understanding how cultural conceptions of the environment relate

to human health and well-being has never been more critical. While
global narratives of environmental preservation typically focus on
sustainable development and resource management, human cultures
display a wealth of different models of connectedness and, potentially,
stewardship. Many indigenous peoples around the globe, for example,
make a direct, causal link between the well-being of humans and the
earth (see Box 2). Their healing systems often involve direct appeals to
the natural world for physical and psychospiritual assistance, creating
moral contracts between people and environments that are both
profound and enduring.
Today, despite the recognition of so-called cultural ecosystem

services defined by the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment as
the nonmaterial benefits people obtain from ecosystems through
spiritual enrichment, cognitive development, reflection, recreation,
and aesthetic experiences (53) culturally based strategies for
fostering health-enhancing connections to the environment remain
largely unexplored. So, too, do possibilities for scaling up related
models of environmental caring and stewardship.
Though such ways of perceiving and relating to nature may

not be familiar to or endorsed by the majority of policy-makers,
they are worthy of serious study. Utilitarian, management-based
sustainability frameworks may not represent either the best or the
most successful strategies for ensuring that healthy environments
are preserved for and valued by future generations. Culturally
sensitive explorations of environmental relationships, on the
other hand, may reveal pathways to deeper and more sustainable
bonds between people and the places they live in, and to healthier
communities overall.
Special effort is required to document and learn from diverse cultural

conceptions of the environment, many of which are now threatened
by multiple factors (52). Research methods from the humanities and
social sciences are well equipped to map these ways of seeing and
their potential for informing health- and environment-related policies
and programmes.
Box 2. Living well together
The Ashaninka peoples of the Peruvian Amazon believe that if all living beings are not in harmony with
the earth (Aipatsite), humans cannot achieve fulfilment and happiness. The Ashaninka call this form of
harmony living well together (kametsa asaiki), a concept that focuses more on the close relationship of
humans to landscapes than on the distinction between nature and those who inhabit it. 1,2
According to the Ashaninka, real Ashaninka people (Ashaninka sanori) are incapable of becoming the good
people they want to be unless their actions are in harmony with nature. Because the earth is where human
and other beings interact on a daily basis, people are thought to be incapable of growing healthy food,
finding new medicines or building sustainable houses and communities unless they respect its many gifts.
This entails deciding when to stay away from the deepest forests out of respect for the spirits (maninkari)
who they believe lead the souls of the dead to the afterlife. These culturally established protocols of respect
and restraint ensure that certain forests are protected from depletion and overhunting, which in turn
prevents illness and produces long-term well-being among Ashaninka peoples.
Indeed, many indigenous groups across the globe believe that the world can only avoid catastrophic disruption
if humans breathe harmony into it. For such cultures, there can be no hard and fast separation between
humans and the places they inhabit; there is an absolute obligation to sustain the environment because they
are a part of it, and because they themselves cannot survive without being its responsible caretaker.
These highly responsible beliefs about stewardship and balance, however, are challenged by long-term
social disruption, large-scale extraction of, for example, forests, oil and natural gas, and ongoing cycles
of violence against those who protest such mindless destruction. 3 This begs the question: how might
integrating environmental policies with local cultural values encourage deeper commitments to protection
and stewardship?
1
Sarmiento Barletti, JP. It makes me sad when they say we are poor. We are rich!: of wealth and public wealth in indigenous Amazonia. In: Santos-Granero F, editor. Images of public wealth or
the anatomy of wellbeing in Indigenous Amazonia. Tucson: University of Arizona Press; 2015 (139160).
2
Sarmiento Barletti, JP. The angry earth: wellbeing, place, and extractivism in the Amazon. Anthropology in Action 2015;23(3):4353.
3
Survival [website]. London: Survival International; 2017 (http://www.survivalinternational.org/conservation, accessed 10 February 2017).
Encouraging cultures of connection to green and blue spaces
Cultural representations of the association between human health

and the environment can be traced back to the earliest societies.
Conceptions of paradise have long been associated with gardens (54),
and temples dedicated to healing were commonly situated on hilltops
overlooking the sea (55). Today, a growing body of evidence attests to
the multifaceted benefits people derive from time spent in or near
natural landscapes (5658). Research shows that, while protecting,
establishing and maintaining them requires significant planning and
financial commitment, failing to do so may pose an even greater threat
to long-term health and well-being. A low level of exposure to natural
areas, for example, appears to put people at higher risk of poor mental
health, and lack of open spaces is associated with low-activity lifestyles,
poor diets and the sharp rise of noncommunicable diseases (58).
In response to these findings, many policy-makers are placing a

renewed emphasis on peoples connection to so-called green spaces
(urban parks, woodlands and other natural areas) and blue spaces
(shorelines and waterways). The importance of green and blue spaces
to health and well-being is now expressed in the WHO European
Healthy Cities Network (59), the European Landscape Convention
(60) and Natura 2000 (61), as well as many intersectoral research
programmes on urban health (62,63) and country-level health and
well-being agendas. This trend has also influenced health services
in important ways, and many hospitals, mental health institutions
and care homes for the elderly have been built to incorporate the
therapeutic presence of sunlight and fresh air as well as views of trees,
water and open vistas (6466).
The social and cultural heritage embodied in landscapes can also

provide a sense of continuity across generations and contribute to
healthy identity construction, which can in turn have a protective
effect on health and well-being. Ethnographic studies of reduced health
inequalities in deindustrialized and relatively deprived coastal areas
of northeast England, for example, suggest that strong cultural and
historical links between community members and their environment
partially explain better-than-expected health outcomes (67).
Additionally, green and blue spaces can provide important common

spaces in which to foster new relationships. Some research argues,
for example, that strong emotional attachment to them can play an
important role in the integration of migrants to urban areas (6870).

Efforts to link people with health-promoting green and blue spaces in
meaningful ways may also serve to heighten awareness of ecological
degradation and, in turn, strengthen local cultures of sustainability
and environmental stewardship (71).
Not surprisingly, then, loss of familiar environments or alterations to

cherished landscapes can also have a direct effect on experiences of
well-being and contentment. Research has found that communities
tend to resist hydraulic fracking not only because they fear the
immediate health impacts of pollution and contamination; they also
consider the potential for altered or damaged landscapes to be a threat
to their overall sense of well-being (72).
The same holds true for communities subject to the persistent noise
and loss of local wildlife from wind farms (73). The decision to replace
more dangerous nuclear power plants with large-scale wind farms
can have a corrosive effect on well-being when rural communities are
forced to accept the presence of turbines in order to offset government-
subsidized energy use in urban and industrial areas. Laudable efforts
to promote more environmentally friendly forms of power generation
may fail when local cultures are not fully considered.
Yet simply protecting natural areas or providing green and blue

spaces is not enough they must be maintained in culturally sensitive
contexts that take into account and enhance accessibility, public
safety, and new eating and exercise practices. Diverse, innovative
initiatives to foster these cultures of connection offer new models of
engagement, some of which could be replicable and scalable. For policy-
makers, they represent a critical new evidence base for informing
environment- and health-related planning and decision-making.
Ensuring equity and access
Health-enhancing natural areas are not equally available to everyone

(74), and as communities negotiate different relationships to them,
misunderstanding and conflict over access and use can quickly arise.
In the 19th century, for example, policy-makers acknowledgement of
the cultural value of natural environments led to the establishment
of many celebrated parks and conservation areas in Europe and
the United States. Yet, in some areas, a culturally biased approach
involved displacing indigenous communities whose subsistence and
stewardship practices were perceived as disruptive (75,76). While

privileged social groups were encouraged to take advantage of those
parks for recreation, indigenous people were denied access to the
life-ways that kept their communities and the land in good health for
thousands of years.
Today in the WHO European Region, despite widespread recognition

of the multiple benefits of coastal areas to health, reflected in cultural
practices across countries, many coastal communities feel excluded
from, or are unable to access, these health-promoting blue spaces (77).
This sense of exclusion can arise from a lack of free time for recreation,
or perceptions of these coastlines as places for others (for example,
tourists). Research in Glasgow, Scotland, also found that deprived
populations do not always perceive nearby green spaces as available
to them (78,79). Indeed, similar patterns underlie a lack of engagement
with green and blue spaces among ethnic minorities across Europe (80).
Box 3. Perceived barriers to green spaces
In 2014, Copenhagen was named the Green Capital of Europe. Ninety-six per cent of the citys residents
live within a 15-minute walk to a park or recreation area, and citizens have access to the best network of
urban cycling paths in the world. In addition to being situated within a country that boasts the highest
happiness ratings, strong policy measures support active lifestyles and the city has relatively low levels of
lifestyle diseases. 1
Many cities across the globe have looked to Copenhagen for sustainable models of urban development.
Much of the success of Copenhagens health and environmental policies has been linked to the endorsement
of a culture in which healthy and sustainable lifestyles are highly valued.
However, recent anthropological research shows that these norms and values are not universal among
residents of Copenhagen. Women from low-income communities, for example, may associate certain healthy
and sustainable activities with a particular lifestyle that they feel is difficult to achieve. These residents are
less likely to benefit from the celebrated green spaces within their city.
The lesson from Copenhagen is clear: unless policy-makers strive actively to address issues of social
exclusion, inequalities may persist even in seemingly egalitarian environments.
1
Thomas F. The role of natural environments within womens everyday health and wellbeing in Copenhagen, Denmark. Health Place 2015;35:18795. doi:10.1016/j.healthplace.2014.11.005.
Furthermore, even when natural landscapes or green and blue spaces

are available, their health-giving aspects may be depleted or damaged
by human activities. Sadly, polluted air, water and soil, elevated levels
of radiation and more frequent extreme weather events due to climate
change are now realities for many communities. Different groups
experience these threats more or less, depending on their geographic
location, their socioeconomic freedom, their civil liberties and their
freedom of choice. Disadvantaged groups often suffer the impacts of
environmental degradation to a greater degree than others (81), as well
as the indignity of seeing their local landscapes eroded (82).
Policy-makers must engage with diverse communities particularly

those who are marginalized to gain a better understanding of
how culturally mediated perceptions of the environment influence
behaviour in positive and negative ways (83). More mixed-methods
research is needed to identify why health- and sustainability-related
policies fail among certain groups, and how more adaptive and
inclusive ones can be developed (84).
Policy options

four specific policy options to all those working on environment- and
health-related programmes are put forward.
Investigate how cultural contexts influence perceptions of and

1.
engagement with the environment, and how strong cultural
bonds between people and the places they value enhance
human health and well-being.
Develop methodologies that allow for the integration of

2.
complex evidence of cultural value(s) into health- and
environment-related decision-making.
Recognize and build on cultural practices that promote

3.
positive engagement with green and blue spaces.
Address inequities and perceived barriers that prevent certain

4.
groups from forging meaningful connections with, and thus
benefiting from, green and blue spaces.
3) Migration, culture and health
Understanding the impacts of migration and marginalization on

health and well-being
Many countries across the globe are in the midst of transformations

brought about by mass migration. As people move in great numbers
from one country to another, distinct values and ways of life can
merge, evolve, clash or coexist. Migrants often struggle to develop
strategies for organizing everyday life in unknown environments with
unfamiliar rules, social values and customs. Receiving countries can
find their everyday virtues tested when efforts to assist seem to come
at the cost of other responsibilities and obligations. When diverse
systems of value are brought together in such pressurized situations,
serious challenges can quickly arise.
Countries across the WHO European Region diverge significantly

in terms of how they respond to the health needs of migrants.
Some, feeling burdened or overwhelmed, develop strategies of
exclusion, pushing migrants back into bordering states or returning
them to countries of origin. Others, energized by the call to action
and determined to remain open to migrants, focus on equitable
resettlement a process that demands new kinds of policy-informing
evidence that existing health data and traditional research strategies
alone cannot provide.
When migrants transition through countries, the multiple hurdles

they encounter can be different and yet equally great. These are
compounded by a lack of incentive to establish foundations for mutual
understanding when migrants wish to be elsewhere and countries do
not perceive them as locally invested. In such contexts, building trust
may be impossible, and delivering fair and culturally competent health
care is difficult at best.
The unsettled nature of migration tells us that the experience

of belonging is a critical factor in the development of competent
care. Longitudinal data, for example, show that when migrants are
distributed across a receiving country but not readily integrated on
equal terms that is, when they still feel marginalized or excluded
they tend to seek opportunities for voluntary resettlement in more
welcoming and familiar-feeling communities (2). These communities of
choice tend to be areas populated by others from their place of origin
who share their values, and where social services are better equipped
"For policy-makers focused for and accustomed to serving their health and welfare needs in
on migrant care, there a culturally sensitive manner.
is clearly an urgent need
to prioritize a cultural Such patterns of secondary, internal migration may provide enhanced
understanding of migrant security and well-being for migrants in the short term. Yet, they
populations." may also have adverse consequences in the longer term, as when
a receiving countrys wider population perceives cultural differences
negatively, or when migrants and their children find that isolation
from broad society becomes a key barrier to leading meaningful
lives. Indeed, when migrants feel isolated, the health consequences
are significant: they often present late for clinical care; they tend to
present with already-chronic conditions, rather than conditions that
can be effectively treated or reversed; and they are likely to present
at emergency facilities rather than more affordable, primary-care
settings focused on prevention (85).
Finally, data suggest that migrants who are not well integrated
(those who are both unemployed and undereducated) experience
disproportionately high levels of certain noncommunicable diseases.
In Denmark, for example, where health care registration is mandatory,
rates for certain noncommunicable diseases are still as much as nine
times higher for marginalized, late-presenting migrants as for health-
educated citizens of European descent (86).
The implications of increased illness and suffering for migrants,

as well as the financial burden created by their reliance on costly
emergency care, create both ethical and economic imperatives for
ensuring that migrants feel safe, respected and understood within the
health care systems of their host countries. For policy-makers focused
on migrant care, there is clearly an urgent need to prioritize a cultural
understanding of migrant populations one that goes beyond a focus
on equality of access to address the deeper challenge of ensuring
equity in health care systems.
Moving beyond stereotypes
When markers such as nationality or religion, or physical signs such

as skin colour, are thought to indicate difference, people can quickly
conflate cultural identity with place of origin or ancestry. Here,
unexamined assumptions about perceived difference can determine
whether an encounter with an individual or group is experienced
"To significantly as a threat, or as an opportunity for learning and exchange (87). In

improve health services pressurized situations where people in positions of authority lack
for migrants, policy- cultural sensitivity training, poor decisions and misunderstandings
makers must examine based on stereotypes become more common (8890). Over time,
how reductive cultural stereotypes embedded within health care systems can limit or
stereotyping hinders undermine quality, efficiency and efficacy of care (91,92).
practical understanding
of illness and suffering." Research shows that effective health care systems must move beyond
assumptions about cultural difference to address the fluid nature
of culture and the array of contributing and intersecting factors
(socioeconomic status, age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender,
education, profession, etc.) that put groups at risk of health inequalities
(9395). This is especially important in the context of migration,
as cultural orientations, identities and value systems may suffer
considerable changes throughout the migration process.
To significantly improve health services for migrants, policy-makers

must examine how reductive cultural stereotyping hinders practical
understanding of illness and suffering (96,97). In the process, they
must remain sensitive to migrants actual living conditions, day-to-day
experiences and concerns about critical issues such as legal status
(see Box 4).
Focusing on equity
Ensuring equity in health care is not just about increasing service

provision and access. Policy-makers must recognize that a one-size-
fits-all approach to care can lead to discrimination against those
whose needs remain unrecognized or differ significantly from those
of long-time residents (98) (See Box 5). In spite of the recent, large-scale
influx of migrants to Germany from the war-torn Middle East, for
instance, no systematic, country-wide psychological care for post-
traumatic stress is available to migrants until their long process of
gaining residency is complete.
When migrant needs appear extreme to those unfamiliar with the

fear and suffering that cause refugees to flee their homes, anxiety
over resources can increase. This is especially true among long-time
inhabitants who may already feel neglected by society. In such cases,
experiences of tension and distrust can have serious adverse effects
on health and well-being.
Box 4. Cultural stereotyping in medical practice
A 10-year-old girl from a Lebanese family living in Germany was admitted to the hospital with diffuse
stomach pain of unclear origin. Diagnostic tests did not reveal an organic cause for her complaints. Among
physicians and nurses, a discussion evolved about culturally specific perceptions and expressions of pain.
Some alleged that patients from the Mediterranean area are known for their tendency to present with
diffuse complaints and an inappropriate exaggeration of pain. 1 In countries such as Belgium, Switzerland
and Germany, health professionals use the term Mediterranean syndrome to describe what is elsewhere
referred to as culture-bound syndrome. 2,3
During a conversation with the girl and her mother, a medical student learned about the living conditions
and social background of the patient and her family. The girl had been born in Germany. Her parents were
political refugees, but had been waiting for a definite decision about their asylum status for over 10 years.
The student also heard about their constricted living space in a collective accommodation centre, and the
adolescent brothers who disturbed the girls sleep. The girl explained that she had no retreat or quiet space
for study, and that she suffered sleep deprivation and fear about her future. She also had problems in school,
where teachers would repeatedly warn her to work more accurately and to make more of an effort. The
thing is that I know that, she said. Classmates would bully her and shout: You are not even supposed to be
here. But I was born here, the girl explained.
In advanced German, the mother described the gruelling insecurity, the guilt she felt towards the children
and the fear about the uncertain future of the family. The girls father, who had grown up in a wealthy
family and received a university education, was caring for the family as a poorly paid, unskilled worker.
As a result of this conversation, the physicians contacted a social worker known for her expertise in migration
issues and migration laws to work towards a better living situation for the family as well as educational support
for the girl. What was initially assumed to be a culturally specific presentation of pain was discovered to be
a somatization of severe social problems linked to the prolonged asylum process of the child and her family.
1
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pain]. In: In wei 2. Giessen: Institut fr Geschichte der Medizin; 2013 (2635) (in German).
2
Ernst G. The myth of the Mediterranean syndrome: do immigrants feel different pain? In Ethn Health 2000;5(2):1216. doi:10.1080/713667444.
3
Van Moffaert M, Vereecken A. Somatization of psychiatric illness in Mediterranean migrants in Belgium. Cult Med Psychiatry 1989;13(3):297313.
Box 5. We do this in a different way than you do.
A 16-year-old boy from a Muslim family with Turkish background living in Germany was diagnosed with
osteosarcoma, a severe bone cancer with no options for curative care. The physicians intention to inform
the boy of his condition was met with strong opposition by the family. They explained that, according to
their religion and culture, the patient must not receive this information. For the team of health professionals
in the paediatric oncology department, this was an unbearable situation; telling the truth to a nearly adult
patient and respecting the individuals right to know were essential elements of the health professionals
ethos. The familys staunch resistance to informing the patient about his diagnosis and imminent death
was thus perceived as unacceptable, and yet all attempts by the physicians and other members of the
professional team, including nurses and social workers, to convince the family were rejected. Tension and
distrust between health professionals and the family grew. 1
In an effort to mediate the conflict, a medical anthropologist asked physicians and other informants of
Turkish Muslim background for their opinion on this case. A Turkish physician, who had worked in Germany
for more than 20 years, replied with absolute clarity: We do this in a different way than you do, he said. The
physician went on to describe the surprising opinion that the family was right, that patients should not get
to know the hard truth directly.
Moreover, he drew a clear line between the Turkish and the German way to tell the truth: German
physicians inform the patients directly, with no compassion or sensibility, cold and tough. I have seen
German physicians traumatizing patients and making them feel hopeless. We are used to doing it in
a different way: the patient has to know the truth, but we communicate this in a more sensitive way,
supporting and caring for him, with religious counselling. For us, supporting and taking care of the ill
and the dying individual is most important.
After sharing and discussing this perception with the health professionals, the task of truth disclosure was
commissioned to a local Turkish paediatrician. The tension between staff and family decreased considerably.
A few weeks later, the boy was discharged from the hospital to palliative care at home.
1
Knipper, M. Vorsicht Kultur! Ethnologische Perspektiven auf Medizin, Migration und ethnisch-kulturelle Vielfalt [Caution, culture! Ethnological perspectives on medicine, migration and ethnic-
cultural diversity]. In: Coors M, Grtzmann T, Peters T, editors. Interkulturalitt und Ethik. Der Umgang mit Fremdheit in Medizin und Ethik [Interculturalism and ethics. Dealing with otherness in
medicine and ethics]. Gttingen: Edition Ruprecht; 2014 (5269) (in German).
It is clear that viewing care in purely clinical terms leaves health

systems ill-equipped to understand the psychological, social and
cultural drivers of illness and health not only within migrant
groups, but also within local subpopulations who define themselves
as disadvantaged. The economic and social costs of this systemic
oversight can be startlingly high.
Responding effectively to the needs of diverse patients involves

aligning caregiving practices with how care is understood and
experienced by those receiving it. Yet it also involves developing
contexts for social trust and belonging for all members of a community;
everyone must feel they can trust the social contracts made formally
as citizens and informally as community members.
This trust is critical to the creation of a culture for health and well-
being, and for the development of compassionate, effective and
economically viable health care systems for all. To foster it, health
policy-makers and caregivers must reflect critically on their own
perceptions and assumptions, and actively seek to understand the
intersectoral nature of culture, migration, health and well-being.
Additionally, they must ensure that positive changes receive support
at systemic and organizational levels.
Policy options

five specific policy options for enhancing migrant health and well-
being are put forward.
1.
Implement diversity training across all levels and professions
of health care systems (with a particular focus on leadership
and management staff) to endorse both the ethical and the
economic imperatives for promoting culturally sensitive
health care.
2.
Increase awareness of unconscious stereotyping and of how
cultural practices and related assumptions about others can
lead to the marginalization of perceived outsiders.
3.
Create programmes that educate and empower migrants
to address their health needs preventively and proactively
by becoming involved in creating fully realized lives for

themselves.
4. upport innovative mixed-methods research designed to build

S
a new evidence base on health vulnerabilities that includes
assessments of subjectively defined needs.
5.
Develop inclusive strategies for building social trust and
a culture for health and well-being.
Conclusion
"An expanded evidence As outlined in Health 2020 and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
base, enriched by Development, incorporating cultural awareness into policy-making
subjective accounts of and policy implementation is critical to the development of adaptive,
personal experience, will equitable and sustainable health care for all. Doing so requires that
offer a more robust set of policy-makers cultivate a nuanced understanding of what culture is,
tools for improving health and strengthen their capacity to identify biases and knowledge gaps
and well-being equitably, that may interfere with effective working practice.
as well as a framework for
further illuminating the This also entails a conscious effort to engage with mixed-methods
working assumptions of research from the health-related humanities and social sciences.
policy-makers, providers Policy-makers must recognize and integrate the extensive body
and the general public." of existing knowledge into their decision-making processes, and
also support the creation of new evidence. An expanded evidence
base, enriched by subjective accounts of personal experience, will
offer a more robust set of tools for improving health and well-being
equitably, as well as a framework for further illuminating the working
assumptions of policy-makers, providers and the general public.
The broad areas of nutrition, the environment and migration offer
important opportunities for meaningful research and engagement
at the level of culture, but this is just the beginning.
As communities and countries experiment with culturally grounded

approaches to fostering health and well-being, it will be essential to
share these broadly. The Regional Offices expert group on the cultural
contexts of health and well-being urges policy-makers and other health
professionals to share their learning experiences and good practices
openly. A multiplicity of voices is crucial to the work ahead.
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Cultural Contexts of Health and Well-being

Policy brief, No. 1

To ensure the widest possible availability of authoritative information

Policy brief, No. 1

ISBN 978 92 890 5233 7

World Health Organization 2017

Art-direction and layout: Freight Design.

Policy brief, No. 1

Principal author and editor

Executive summary......................................................................................................... viii

Section I: Understanding culture, health and well-being................................ 1

Section II. Key themes......................................................................................................... 6

1) Nutrition, culture and health........................................................................ 6

2) Environment, culture and health..............................................................12

3) Migration, culture and health..................................................................... 19

Recognizing that population health and well-being are to a large degree

To these ends, it presents a robust definition of culture and outlines

While culture is highly applicable to a broad range of issues both within

In 2015, upon acknowledging the importance of culture to health and

The Regional Offices new focus on culture is reflected in the two

In 2001, the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural

Though the shared values of cultural contexts are complex,

First, an awareness of cultural contexts shows people the relative nature

Second, an awareness of cultural contexts allows us to better

Third, because pathways of care are built upon a foundation of shared

Fourth, because diverging value systems, health beliefs and views

Our experiences of health and well-being are fundamentally influenced

Cultivating this self-awareness involves recognizing that all forms

an historical bias towards quantitative studies in public health has

It is clear that randomized control trials based on a limited set of

There are, therefore, ethical, epistemological and economic imperatives

With a heightened awareness of both the strengths and weaknesses of

To this end, this policy brief sets out to do three things:

to offer specific suggestions to help policy-makers understand

3. to provide examples of how cultural awareness can improve

Policy options and key themes

Section I of this policy brief examines the concept of culture, explores

1.  romote an understanding of the interrelationship between

4. I ncorporate subjective definitions, experiences and

Identify ethical dilemmas that may arise when systems of

6. Support the development of instruments that increase

7. I ncrease capacity for working intersectorally by introducing

8. Share good practices.

Section II of this policy brief demonstrates how cultural contexts

2.  he environment: effective policy-making on the environment

2. Napier AD, Ancarno C, Butler B, Calabrese J, Chater A,

3. Health 2020: the European policy for health and well-being

4. The Sustainable Development Agenda [website].

5. UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity [website].

6. Social determinants of health [website]. Copenhagen: WHO

7. Adams V, Burke NJ, Whitmarsh I. Slow research: thoughts for

Section I: Understanding culture, health

In 2001, the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural

Culture, in other words, is something all humans have and depend

Precisely because culture concerns more than what we acknowledge

Organizations, educational institutions and professions also develop

public health systems to respond effectively to the health needs of

The European policy framework Health 2020 emerged within this

Expanding the evidence base on the cultural contexts of

3. to provide examples of how cultural awareness can improve

1. romote an understanding of the interrelationship between

4. I ncorporate subjective definitions, experiences and

6. Support the development of instruments that increase

7. I ncrease capacity for working intersectorally by introducing

2. he environment: effective policy-making on the environment

2. Napier AD, Ancarno C, Butler B, Calabrese J, Chater A,

3. Health 2020: the European policy for health and well-being

4. The Sustainable Development Agenda [website].

5. UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity [website].

6. Social determinants of health [website]. Copenhagen: WHO

7. Adams V, Burke NJ, Whitmarsh I. Slow research: thoughts for

2. ecognize how the cultural contexts of food selection,

3. In partnership with communities, identify food promotion

5. ngage critically and from a variety of perspectives (historical,