ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the roots and development of medical anthropology, since it is the main discipline that studies health issues from a cultural perspective. It describes the role of translation as a vehicle for the spread of medical knowledge and culture. The development of translation and interpreting services in medical settings can be understood as a service needed in multicultural and multilingual societies. The situation of interpretation in medical institutions is clearly unequal in different parts of the world and significant differences can even be detected depending on the region of the country where one is located. The relationship between anthropology, medicine and medical practice is well documented and remained constant during the twentieth century until the development of modern medical anthropology in the 1960s and 1970s. Intercultural communication approaches interculturalism in the medical field as a process of increasing the proximity between different cultural worlds where notable differences may be present.
