Introduction

ABSTRACT:

This introduction delineates and discusses the field of social, cultural, and historical studies of health and health care in Ghana. Health and health care are viewed as significant nexuses of social and cultural processes. This overview of studies, mainly from Anglophone medical anthropology, focuses on developments around “traditional” medicine and various themes relating to biomedicine, including hospital ethnography, pharmaceuticals, health insurance, reproductive technology, and HIV/AIDS, while the final topic is about concepts and quality of care. The contributions to this special issue are briefly presented and linked to the above mentioned themes.