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People seeking psychiatric healing choose from an almost dizzying array of therapies—from the medicated mud packs of Ayurveda, to the pharmacopeia of Western biomedicine, to the spiritual pathways of the world's religions. How do we choose, what do the treatments offer, and how do they cure? In Mudpacks and Prozac, Murphy Halliburton investigates the very different ways in which Ayurvedic, Western, and religious (Christian, Muslim, and Hindu) healing systems define psychiatric problems and cures. He describes people's embodied experiences of therapies that range from soothing to frightening, and explores how enduring pleasure or pain affects healing. And through evocative portraits of patients in Kerala, India—a place of incredible cultural diversity that has become a Mecca for alternative medicine—Halliburton shows how sociopolitical changes around the globe may be limiting the ways in which people seek and experience health care, with negative effects on our quality of health and quality of life.

Global Health for All trains a critical lens on global health to share the stories that global health’s practices and logics tell about 20th and 21st century configurations of science and power. An ethnography on multiple scales, the book focuses on global health’s key epistemic and therapeutic practices like localization, measurement, triage, markets, technology, care, and regulation. Its roving approach traverses policy centers, sites of intervention, and innumerable spaces in between to consider what happens when globalized logics, circulations, and actors work to imagine, modify, and manage health. By resting in these in-between places, Global Health for All simultaneously examines global health as a coherent system and as a dynamic, unpredictable collection of modular parts.

Background This study aimed at exploring the roles of a Vaidya – an uncodified traditional doctor – in a community in Kerala State, India. Special attention was paid to the characteristics of the Vaidya’s patients in comparison with the treatment-seeking behaviour of the community members. Methods Both qualitative and quantitative data about the Vaidya, 97 of his patients, and 31 community members were gathered via participatory fieldwork and open-ended interviews. Results It was found that the community members seldom consulted the Vaidya who lived in their community; thus, the role of the Vaidya as the community’s primary health care provider had nearly disappeared. Nonetheless, the Vaidya was deeply respected as one of the community’s leaders by its members because of the spiritual and financial support he provided to them. On the other hand, a number of patients visited the Vaidya from outside the village, which implied that the Vaidya played a new role under the changes caused by medical pluralism. Even a codified traditional medicine, Ayurveda, was less popular among the community members. These findings were interesting, because while the traditional Indian medical system has been becoming popular and common in other societies, such as European societies, as an alternative medicine, the traditional medical system was becoming less important in the rural Indian context. Conclusion It is thus concluded that the medical practice has changed depending on its cultural and social contexts, even though its medicinal effects had been proven by scientific survey.

Debates on linking livelihoods and conservation through the commercialization of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) continue to hold significance considering the increasing market demand for NTFPs, its high economic value for forest-dependent communities and “enabling” neoliberal policies that are in place. Kerala, located on the southwest coast of India, flanked by the Western Ghats—a UN declared biodiversity hot spot, on its windward side, is of particular significance due to the presence of the Ayurvedic industry—a traditional medicine industry that procures 90 % of its raw materials from the wild. In addition, the presence of a resource-dependent tribal population re-affirms the economic, social and cultural significance of NTFPs. Unsustainable practices and poor co-management and marketing arrangements have rendered the sector ineffective in terms of meeting livelihood as well as conservation goals in the region. Although new approaches such as NTFP certification are being recommended for India not much has been reported on its feasibility and/or implementation challenges. Focusing on the Kadar community of Kerala, this study attempts to highlight some of the issues within the sector and using an “instrumental model”, present the benefits accrued from new strategies such as NTFP certification through quantitative and qualitative assessments. Last but not least, recommendations for the adoption of sustainable strategies in context with the existing policy environment are provided that may be broadly applicable to other forest-dependent communities in India and elsewhere.