Working at the nexus of medical anthropology and the anthropology of childhood, this article challenges three assumptions oft en embedded in child health policy: (1) children are the passive recipients of healthcare; (2) children’s knowledge of illness and their body can be assumed based on adult understandings; and (3) children’s healthcare can be isolated from their social relations. I explore these themes through the case study of a 2011 New Zealand government initiative to reduce the rates of rheumatic fever aff ecting low-income Māori and Pasifi ka children. Drawing on fi eldwork with around 80 children at an Auckland primary school, I show how the ‘sore throat’ programme does not merely treat streptococcus A infections, but plays an active role in constituting children’s experiences and understandings of their bodies and illness, and in shaping healthcare practices in ways unintended by policy-makers.

中文翻译：

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人类学在儿童健康政策中的价值

在医学人类学和童年人类学之间的关系中，本文对儿童健康政策中的三个假设提出了挑战：（1）儿童是医疗保健的被动接受者；（2）可以根据成人的理解来假设儿童对疾病和身体的了解；（3）儿童的医疗保健可以与他们的社会关系隔离开来。我将通过一项2011年新西兰政府倡议的案例研究来探讨这些主题，该倡议旨在降低影响低收入毛利族和帕斯菲卡族儿童的风湿热发病率。我利用奥克兰一所小学中约80名儿童的田野工作，向我展示了“咽喉炎”计划如何不仅治疗链球菌A感染，而且在构成儿童对他们的身体和疾病的经历和理解方面起着积极作用，