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Dr Paul Kadetz

Paul Kadetz crop

Dr. Paul Kadetz is the Chair of the Department of Public Health, Director of the Master in Public Health programme and Associate Professor of Public Health at Marshall University in the U.S. He is also a senior research fellow at Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (The University of Liverpool in Suzhou, China). His co-edited volume Handbook of Welfare in China is due out Autumn 2016 by Edward Elgar Press.

Paul is a board-certified Adult Nurse Practitioner (APRN-BC; MSN, Vanderbilt), and a board-certified Acupuncturist/Herbalist (LAc; MSOM, Samra University, USA and internship at Beijing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, China) within the United States. Paul completed his DPhil in Development Studies in the Department of International Development, University of Oxford. He also holds a MPH in International Health and Development (Tulane University School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine); a MSc in Medical Anthropology (Oxon.); a BA in Biology and Psychology (NYU); a BSN in Nursing, and a post-masters certificate in Teacher Education (Pennsylvania). He has served as an external researcher for The World Health Organization-Western Pacific Region. Paul's research is primarily concerned with healthcare equity in low-income populations and the myriad factors perpetuating healthcare inequity, especially in terms of the effects of political economy and ideological transfers on local level healthcare systems and population health. His current research examines the outcomes of historical and current Sino-African Health diplomacy at the local level in African contexts.

Research

Traditional, complementary and alternative medicine (or heterodox healthcare) comprises an essential component of informal local healthcare economies and functions as a primary source of healthcare for a majority of populations in low-income countries. The World Health Organization has promoted the integration of heterodox healthcare practises and practitioners into formal state and local biomedical healthcare systems since the Declaration of Alma Ata and the ensuing paradigm shift toward development of primary healthcare systems. Heretofore, the literature has assumed the beneficence of this policy in reducing healthcare disparity, without assessing the outcomes of this policy's implementation. Understanding the outcomes of the integration of the formal and informal healthcare economy is particularly imperative for countries that have undergone healthcare reforms, such as the devolved healthcare system of the Philippines. This research studies the impact of healthcare integration policy and, thereby, the control of the informal healthcare economy on the local healthcare of communities in five municipalities in the Philippines, as well as the ideological assumptions embedded in the discourse of integrative medicine. The current eradication of traditional birth attendants through the policy of mandatory in-facility birthing for all women, provides an illustrative case example of how healthcare integration may be affecting access to healthcare in the Philippines. The assumptions of beneficence of healthcare integration in reducing healthcare disparity and in increasing physical and financial access to healthcare in low-income populations are not supported by this research. Furthermore, this research suggests that healthcare integration and attempts to control informal local healthcare economies may be detrimental to local healthcare systems and population health if implemented in a manner that ignores the particular needs of a given local context. Ultimately, this research aims to contribute to the discourse on global health policy making and global health governance.

Selected Publications

Kadetz, P., B. Carrillo & J. Hood 2016 (forthcoming). Handbook of Welfare in China, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

Kadetz, P. & J. Perdomo. 'The integration of Traditional Chinese Medicine in the Cuban Health Care System'. Asian Medicine: Tradition and Modernity. Boston: Brill Publications.

Kadetz, P. 2011. 'Endangered Practices: Challenging the discourse of health care integration'. In V. Scheid and H. Macpherson (eds.), Integrating East Asian Medicine into Contemporary Healthcare: Authenticity,Best Practice and the Evidence Mosaic. London: Elsevier.

Kadetz, P. 2011. 'Assumptions of Global Beneficence: Health care disparity, the WHO, and the effects of global integrative health care policy on local levels in the Philippines'. Biosocieties 8:88-105.

Kadetz, P. 2010. Report of Meeting for Future Directions for Traditional Medicine in the Western Pacific Region. Manila: World Health Organization.

Ulijaszek, S.J. & P. Kadetz 2009. 'Child growth: plasticity and environment'. In K. Ashizawa and N. Cameron (eds.) Advances in the Study of Human Growth and Development, pp 39-53. London: Smith-Gordon.

 

Kadetz, P. 2009. Government, NGO, and Community Factors Affecting Malnutrition in Twelve Indigenous Communities of Lake Atitlan, Guatemala: An Assessment for Sustainable Solutions. Technical Report for The Royal Geographical Society.

Kadetz, P. 2009. WHO-Western Pacific Region Office Report on the State of Traditional, Complementary, and Alternative Medicine in The Philippines: A Pilot Study of the WPRO 2002-2010 Strategic Objectives. Technical Report. Manila: World Health Organization.

Kadetz P. 'Rebuilding a New Orleans Community with Food'. The Yale Journal of Public Health. May 2008.

Stephens, K., D. Grew, K. Chin, P. Kadetz, G. Greenough & F. Burkle. 'Excess Mortality in the Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina: A Preliminary Report'. Disaster Medicine and Public Health. AMA. July 2007. 1(1):15-20.