Social medicine

Farmer et al. (2006) gave the following explanation for this gap:[3] The holy grail of modern medicine remains the search for a molecular basis of disease.

[3] Social medicine is a vast and evolving field, and its scope can cover a wide range of topics that touch on the intersection of society and health.

A social medicine approach might delve into why certain communities within the city are more affected than others, looking at housing conditions, employment status, racial or socio-economic discrimination, and other societal factors, and then proposing solutions based on these insights.

Both fields recognize the importance of the social determinants of health but approach the topic from slightly different angles and with varying emphases.

Other prominent figures in the history of social medicine, beginning from the 20th century, include Salvador Allende, Henry E. Sigerist, Thomas McKeown,[6] Victor W. Sidel,[7] Howard Waitzkin, and more recently Paul Farmer[8] and Jim Yong Kim.

", wherein he summarized facts and arguments that supported what became known as McKeown's thesis, i.e. that the growth of population can be attributed to a decline in mortality from infectious diseases, primarily thanks to better nutrition, later also to better hygiene, and only marginally and late to medical interventions such as antibiotics and vaccines.