Preventive and Social Medicine

This paper explores the inclusion of social inputs, with gender as a central theme for the causation and management of different diseases, in textbooks of preventive and social medicine. It finds that prevalent gender stereotypes get consistently reinforced in the analysis of family and community dynamics. Women's reproductive health needs only come into focus in discussions on family planning and the 'population problem'. Both the books examined were found lacking in class and gender specific research data on disease causation and management. It is apparent the authors pick up progressive ideas but fail to integrate them into the text. As a result, gender, equity and social justice in the analysis of health issues and health care needs appear as unintegrated concepts, easily ignored by student users of these books.