In health care delivery and health care research basic concepts of cultural behavior are ignored--at a high personal and financial cost--because both fields are dominated by technical solutions and quantitative analysis. They have little use for what is often regarded as irrelevant information.In this wide-ranging book written for students and non-specialists Gesler applies cultural geography to health care and shows that throughout the world in western and developing countries alike the social sciences can inform the medical sciences nd make them more effective and less expensive.