Centre of African Studies, School of Social and Political Science, College of Humanities and Social Science, The University of Edinburgh, 58 George Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9LD UK ; Division of Pathway Medicine and Centre for Infectious Diseases, School of Biomedical Sciences, College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine, The University of Edinburgh, Chancellor's Building, 49 Little France Crescent, Edinburgh, EH16 4SB UK.
Infect Dis Poverty. 2014 Oct 1;3(1):35. doi: 10.1186/2049-9957-3-35. eCollection 2014.
Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) are both drivers and manifestations of poverty and social inequality. Increased advocacy efforts since the mid-2000s have led to ambitious new control and elimination targets set for 2020 by the World Health Organisation. While these global aspirations represent significant policy momentum, there are multifaceted challenges in controlling infectious diseases in resource-poor local contexts that need to be acknowledged, understood and engaged. However a number of recent publications have emphasised the "neglected" status of applied social science research on NTDs. In light of the 2020 targets, this paper explores the social science/NTD literature and unpacks some of the ways in which social inquiry can help support effective and sustainable interventions. Five priority areas are discussed, including on policy processes, health systems capacity, compliance and resistance to interventions, education and behaviour change, and community participation. The paper shows that despite the multifaceted value of having anthropological and sociological perspectives integrated into NTD programmes, contemporary efforts underutilise this potential. This is reflective of the dominance of top-down information flows and technocratic approaches in global health. To counter this tendency, social research needs to be more than an afterthought; integrating social inquiry into the planning, monitoring and evaluating process will help ensure that flexibility and adaptability to local realities are built into interventions. More emphasis on social science perspectives can also help link NTD control to broader social determinants of health, especially important given the major social and economic inequalities that continue to underpin transmission in endemic countries.
被忽视的热带病（NTDs）既是贫困和社会不平等的驱动因素，也是其表现形式。自 21 世纪中期以来，倡导力度的加大促使世界卫生组织为 2020 年设定了控制和消除 NTD 的宏伟目标。尽管这些全球目标代表了重大的政策动力，但在资源匮乏的地方环境中控制传染病存在多方面的挑战，需要得到承认、理解和应对。然而，最近的一些出版物强调了应用社会科学研究在 NTD 方面的“被忽视”状态。有鉴于 2020 年的目标，本文探讨了社会科学/NTD 文献，并详细阐述了社会调查如何有助于支持有效和可持续的干预措施。本文讨论了五个优先领域，包括政策进程、卫生系统能力、干预措施的合规性和抵制、教育和行为改变以及社区参与。本文表明，尽管将人类学和社会学观点融入 NTD 方案具有多方面的价值，但当代努力未能充分利用这一潜力。这反映了自上而下的信息流和全球卫生领域的技术官僚方法的主导地位。为了克服这种趋势，社会研究不能只是事后的想法；将社会调查纳入规划、监测和评估过程将有助于确保干预措施具有灵活性和对当地现实的适应性。更多地强调社会科学观点也有助于将 NTD 控制与更广泛的健康社会决定因素联系起来，鉴于继续支撑流行国家传播的重大社会和经济不平等，这一点尤为重要。
