Medicamentos en disputa: una etnografía sobre la prescripción en consultorios adyacentes a farmacias en México
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: This article examines how pharmacies offices adjacent to clinics (PADO’s) in Mexico operate as spaces of pharmaceuticalization, in which medications structure the therapeutic experience. Based on ethnographic research conducted in PADO’s in Mexico City, including participant observation and interviews with physicians, pharmacy staff, and patients, it analyzes the disputes and negotiations surrounding the prescriptionand dispensing of pharmaceuticals. The study shows how, within these settings, medical authority isstrained and reconfigured under market logics, whilepatients emerge as active subjects in therapeutic decision-making. Although the research is circumscribed to a specific urban context, it provides analytical insights into broader transformations in privatized healthcare systems. From the perspective of pharmaceutical anthropology and pharmaceutical studies, PADO’s are conceptualized as strategic nodes where processes of pharmaceuticalization and the commodification of health converge.
Source: Alteridades
DOI: 10.24275/qtgn3826
Author: Ana Victoria Morán Pérez
Institution: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Language: Spanish
Subfield: Anthropology
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7147085133