AUTHOR=Kierans Ciara , Padilla-Altamira Cesar 

TITLE=Anthropological perspectives on CKDnt in Mexico: time for a paradigm shift on the social determinants of health

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Nephrology

VOLUME=Volume 3 - 2023

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/nephrology/articles/10.3389/fneph.2023.1155687

DOI=10.3389/fneph.2023.1155687

ISSN=2813-0626

ABSTRACT=In Mexico, the kidneys of poor and marginalised communities are failing with little warning and no explanation. Commonly referred to as Chronic Kidney Disease of Non-traditional Origin (CKDnt), this new variant of kidney disease cannot be accounted for in conventional aetiological terms but is variously held to be a consequence of aggressive economic development, environmental degradation and precarious working and living conditions. Drawing on two interconnected ethnographic studies, and intertwining problems of cause and care, this paper will: (1) document the social conditions of disease emergence around Lake Chapala, Central Mexico and (2) follow the haphazard routes kidney patients take to access resource-intensive biotechnical treatments. It’s aim is to both challenge and re-conceptualise social determinants as social relations in order to fully account for the profoundly contextual, temporal and dynamic character of this condition as well as re-think opportunities for care and intervention.