Health, policy and emotion

Context and purpose Not so very long ago, the idea of publishing a special issue on the topic of healthcare, policy and the emotions might have seemed odd, ridiculous even. Healthcare and policy would certainly have sat happily enough together. After all, healthcare has always had a political dimension. It has never been a simple dyad of patient and practitioner. From its very inception, healthcare has been embedded in a complex web of relationships with community, civic and state authority. Faced with devastating epidemic (as well as endemic) disease, ancient, medieval and early modern cities sought to harness medical knowledge to the benefit of the civic polity, while, as states grew in authority and ambition throughout the 18th century, medical practitioners recognised that health might be considered as a function of governance. Such associations were solidified as the 19th and 20th centuries witnessed the rise of mass societies...
Source: Medical Humanities - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: Editor's choice Editorial Source Type: research