Benefits of biological anthropology for public health

[Extract] In recent years, Papua New Guinea (PNG) has seen a resurgence of interest from biological anthropologists wishing to carry out research projects. Generally speaking, biological anthropology (bio anth) draws on medical datasets in order to consider notions of human evolution. However, occasionally, in developing economies, questions are raised about the morality of collecting medical data to investigate evolution, when commonly national governments struggle to fund what might be considered routine public health programmes. Here we emphasise the point that bio anth, can produce interesting and productive synergies, including mutually beneficial datasets