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Why is an Integrated Social-Ecological Systems (ISES) Lens Needed to Explain Causes and Determinants of Disease? A Case Study of Dengue in Dhaka, Bangladesh

Both the authors participated equally in the planning and writing of this article.

Ecological Health: Society, Ecology and Health

ISBN: 978-1-78190-323-0

Publication date: 16 August 2014

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this chapter is to offer reflections on conventional theories concerning causes and determinants of diseases. It also intends to examine both theoretical and empirical bases for adopting an Integrated Social-Ecological Systems (ISES) lens as a tool for understanding complexities related to drivers, determinants and causes of diseases.

Design/methodology/approach

We assessed the theoretical underpinnings of a range of historical and contemporary lenses for viewing infectious disease drivers and the implications of their use when used to explain both personal (i.e. individual) and population health. We examined these issues within the empirical context of the City of Dhaka (Bangladesh) by adopting an ISES lens. Within this study an emphasis has been placed on illustrating how feedback loops and non-linearity functions in systems have a direct bearing upon various aspects of infectious disease occurrences.

Findings

A brief triumph over microbes during the last century stemmed in part from our improved understanding of disease causation which was built using disciplinary-specific, monocausal approaches to the study of disease emergence. Subsequently, empirical inquiries into the multi-factorial aetiology and the ‘web of causation’ of disease emergence have extended frameworks beyond simplistic, individualistic descriptions of disease causation. Nonetheless, much work is yet to be done to understand the roles of complex, intertwined, multi-level, social-ecological factors in affecting disease occurrence. We argue, a transdisciplinary-oriented, ISES lens is needed to explain the complexities of disease occurrence at various and interacting levels. More theoretical and empirical formulations, with evidence derived from various parts of the world, is also required to further the debate.

Originality/value

Our study advances the theoretical as well as empirical basis for considering an integrated human-nature systems approach to explaining disease occurrence at all levels so that factors at the individual, household/neighbourhood, local, regional and global levels are not treated in isolation.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Ottawa, Canada funded project, entitled “Climatic Variability, Social-Ecological Changes and Dengue Disease in Bangladesh” (Grant 106040-001). Financial assistance from the Manitoba Health Research Council (MHRC) through the Graduate Studentships Award and from IDRC (Ottawa) through the IDRC Doctoral Research Awards (IDRA) to the first author of this study to conduct the required field research is gratefully acknowledged. We thank Mr. Cameron Zywina for his editorial assistance.

Citation

Chowdhury, P.D. and Haque, C.E. (2014), "Why is an Integrated Social-Ecological Systems (ISES) Lens Needed to Explain Causes and Determinants of Disease? A Case Study of Dengue in Dhaka, Bangladesh

Both the authors participated equally in the planning and writing of this article.

", Ecological Health: Society, Ecology and Health (Advances in Medical Sociology, Vol. 15), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 217-239. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1057-6290(2013)0000015014

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2013 Emerald Group Publishing Limited