Syndemics

Synergistically interacting epidemics

Syndemics and global health, c2013: back cover (A syndemic is a set of enmeshed and mutually enhancing health problems that, working together in a context of noxious social and physical conditions, can significantly affect the overall disease burden and health status of a population. Defined more precisely as the concentration and deleterious interaction of two or more diseases or other health conditions in a population, especially as a consequence of social inequity and the unjust exercise of power, syndemics appear to have played an important role in human disease history (and hence more generallly in human history), continue to have a significant impact on diverse populations globally, and are likely to influence the human (and animal) health profile of the future. As a result the syndemics concept, which developed within anthropology, has received a growing level of attention in public health, biomedicine, and in other disciplines that focus on the health effects of social and environmental conditions. Syndemics researchers, like those whose articles appear in this issue, seek to understand the nature of syndemics, the actual biological or other pathways of disease interaction, the ways in which social relations and condition promote disease clustering and interaction, and approaches to prevention or responding to a syndemic)
Work cat: Singer, Merrill. Introduction to syndemics, c2009.
MedicineNet.com, Dec. 21, 2014 (definition of syndemic: a set of linked health problems involving two or more afflictions, interacting synergistically, and contributing to excess burden of disease in a population. Syndemics occur when health-related problems cluster by person, place, or time. For example, the SAVA syndemic is comprised of substance abuse, violence, and AIDS, three conditions that disproportionately afflict those living in poverty in US cities. To prevent a syndemic, one must prevent or control not only each affliction but also the forces that tie those afflictions together. From syn-, together + (epi)-demic)
Wikipedia, Dec. 21, 2014: Syndemic entry p. (A syndemic is the aggregation of two or more diseases in a population in which there is some level of positive biological interaction that exacerbates the negative health effects of any or all of the diseases)
Google search, Dec. 21, 2014 (term "syndemics" yields 18,700 hits; term "syndemic" yields 57,700 hits)
CDC, Program Collaboration and Service Integration (PCSI) at NCHHSTP online, Dec. 21, 2014: Definitions p. (Syndemics: Synergistically interacting epidemics)