I bisogni di salute di una comunità: il punto di vista antropologico

This article offers an anthropological overview of the analysis of community health needs. Starting with a review of the classical contributions of medical anthropology and anthropology applied to epidemiology, we interpret health needs as “biographical and social facts”. By highlighting the importance of community participation in defining health needs, and recognizing that not all people's needs are healthcare-related, we suggest to rethink “community” from a health promotion perspective. Finally, we will present “ecomap” and “participatory mapping”, two simple tools that can be used in the analysis of health needs, putting into practice the concepts previously discussed, while showing how anthropology can contribute to Primary Health Care.