In this book, we present research on health issues in diverse cultures and especially research around immigrants who came to the United States from diverse backgrounds. Hispanic and Asian Americans make up the fastest growing sector of the United States population and immigrants are often unable to access, seek, or receive health care due to several barriers. Research and also clinical experience have found that recent immigrants who migrate to the United States frequently experience a lack of access, high costs, and difficulty obtaining medical insurance along with barriers such as access to information, cultural or linguistic obstacles, and an inability to understand the healthcare system. Therefore in this book, we have tried to gain a better understanding for the readers of the experiences that immigrants undergo in the healthcare system through several research projects presented herein.

This book is about children's health care in traditional societies in Ghana. The book pays a close and systematic attention to how rural Ghanaians take care of their children's health needs. In particular, the study principally examines my primary research conducted in Ghana about how children, especially new-born babies, are cared for in general and during times of sickness. The book also pays special attention to disease causation in children and beliefs that influence and/or impact the curing of children afflicted with diseases. The study done for this book may be considered a prelude in the study of children's health care research. It therefore aims at setting the scene for an interdisciplinary research on children's health from both an anthropological as well as a social scientific perspective.

A comprehensive view of health issues currently plaguing Africa, with an emphasis on the HIV/AIDS pandemic. HIV/AIDS, Illness and African Well-Being highlights the specific health problems facing Africa today, most particularly the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Taking a multi-disciplinary approach, the book presents not only various healthcrises, but also the larger historical and contemporary contexts within which they must be understood and managed. Chapters offering analysis of specific illness case studies, and the effects of globalization and underdevelopmenton health, provide an overarching context in which HIV/AIDS and other health-related concerns can be understood. The contributions on the HIV/AIDS pandemic grapple with the complications of national and international policies, thesociological effects of the pandemic, and policy options for the future. HIV/AIDS, Illness and African Well-Being thus provides a comprehensive view of health issues currently plaguing the continent and the many differentways that scholars are interpreting the health outlook in Africa. Contributors: Obijiofor Aginam, Yacouba Banhoro, Richard Beilock, Charity Chenga, Mandi Chikombero, Kaley Creswell, Freek Cronje, Frank N. F. Dadzie, Gabriel B. Fosu, Stephen Obeng-Manu Gyimah, Kathryn H. Jacobsen, W. Bediako Lamouse-Smith, William N. Mkanta, Gerald M. Mumma, Kalala Ngalamulume, Raphael Chijioke Njoku, Cecilia S. Obeng, Iruka N. Okeke, Akpen Philip, Baffour K. Takyi, Melissa K. Van Dyke, Sophie Wertheimer, Ellen A. S. Whitney Toyin Falola is the Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities and University Distinguished Teaching Professor at the University of Texas atAustin. Matthew M. Heaton is a PhD candidate at the University of Texas at Austin.