University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Modernization and Health in Developing Countries: The Case of Brazil

Phillips, Daphne Ethlyn

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Description

Title
Modernization and Health in Developing Countries: The Case of Brazil
Author(s)
Phillips, Daphne Ethlyn
Issue Date
1993
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Ross, C.,
Department of Study
Sociology
Discipline
Sociology
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
  • Health Sciences, Public Health
  • Sociology, Public and Social Welfare
Abstract
  • Improved health, declines in mortality and morbidity and extension of life expectancy have all been positively associated with development in industrial countries within the last century, through improved nutrition, sanitation, better housing, improved conditions of work, income, education, public health and similar factors. In Brazil, the modernization process of the mid 1960s to 1980s resulted in a decline in these structural factors for the vast majority of the population. Decline in living conditions, in turn, affect health. Estimates indicate that mortality among some age groups may have increased.
  • Some analysts claim that the reason for the mortality levels in Latin America since the 1960s has been the lack of individual responsibility in the refusal of the people to adopt behaviors which protect health; thus mortality and morbidity levels are seen as products of individual inadequacies and not of structural deficiencies.
  • In this dissertation I examine the relative effects of structural factors and individual responsibility factors on the determination of health in Brazil, and compare their influences on two aspects of health status. This analysis shows that although the adoption of health protective behaviors does enhance health, the practice these behaviors is itself a product of structural factors associated with socioeconomic variables.
  • I examine the significance of the Brazilian experience for developing countries.
Graduation Semester
1993
Type of Resource
text
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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/72476

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