AIDS in the Shadow of Biomedicine

AIDS in the Shadow of Biomedicine
Author: Isak Niehaus
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 213
Release: 2018-12-15
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1786994755

The Bushbuckridge region of South Africa has one of the highest rates of HIV infection in the world. Having first arrived in the area in the early 1990s, the disease spread rapidly, and by 2008 life expectancies had fallen by 12 years for men and 14 years for women. Since 2005, public health facilities have increasingly offered free HAART (highly active antiretroviral therapy) treatment, offering a degree of hope, but uptake and adherence to the therapy has been sporadic and uneven. Drawing on his extensive ethnographic research, carried out in Bushbuckridge over the course of 25 years, Isak Niehaus reveals how the AIDS pandemic has been experienced at the village-level. Most significantly, he shows how local cultural practices and values have shaped responses to the epidemic. For example, while local attitudes towards death and misfortune have contributed to the stigma around AIDS, kinship structures have also facilitated the adoption and care of AIDS orphans. Such practices challenge us to rethink the role played by culture in understanding and treating sickness, with Niehaus showing how an appreciation of local beliefs and customs is essential to any effective strategy of AIDS treatment. Overturning many of our assumptions on disease prevention, the book is essential reading for practitioners as well as researchers in global health, anthropology, sociology, epidemiology and scholars interested in public health and administration in sub-Saharan Africa.

AIDS in the Shadow of Biomedicine

AIDS in the Shadow of Biomedicine
Author: Isak Niehaus
Publisher: Zed Books Ltd.
Total Pages: 276
Release: 2018-12-15
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1786994763

The Bushbuckridge region of South Africa has one of the highest rates of HIV infection in the world. Having first arrived in the area in the early 1990s, the disease spread rapidly, and by 2008 life expectancies had fallen by 12 years for men and 14 years for women. Since 2005, public health facilities have increasingly offered free HAART (highly active antiretroviral therapy) treatment, offering a degree of hope, but uptake and adherence to the therapy has been sporadic and uneven. Drawing on his extensive ethnographic research, carried out in Bushbuckridge over the course of 25 years, Isak Niehaus reveals how the AIDS pandemic has been experienced at the village-level. Most significantly, he shows how local cultural practices and values have shaped responses to the epidemic. For example, while local attitudes towards death and misfortune have contributed to the stigma around AIDS, kinship structures have also facilitated the adoption and care of AIDS orphans. Such practices challenge us to rethink the role played by culture in understanding and treating sickness, with Niehaus showing how an appreciation of local beliefs and customs is essential to any effective strategy of AIDS treatment. Overturning many of our assumptions on disease prevention, the book is essential reading for practitioners as well as researchers in global health, anthropology, sociology, epidemiology and scholars interested in public health and administration in sub-Saharan Africa.

Health, Healing and Illness in African History

Health, Healing and Illness in African History
Author: Rebekah Lee
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 272
Release: 2021-02-11
Genre: History
ISBN: 147425439X

In this book, Rebekah Lee offers a critical introduction to the diverse history of health, healing and illness in sub-Saharan Africa from the 1800s to the present day. Its focus is not simply on disease but rather on how illness and health were understood and managed: by healthcare providers, African patients, their families and communities. Through a sustained interdisciplinary approach, Lee brings to the foreground a cast of actors, institutions and ideas that both profoundly and intimately shaped African health experiences and outcomes. This book guides the reader through a wide range of historical source material, and highlights the theoretical and methodological innovations which have enriched this scholarship. Part One delivers a concise historical overview of African health and illness from the long 'pre-colonial' past through the colonial period and into the present day, providing an understanding of broad patterns – of major disease challenges, experiences of illness, and local and global health interventions – and their persistence or transformation across time. Part Two adopts a 'case study' approach, focusing on specific health challenges in Africa – HIV/AIDS, mental illness, tropical disease and occupational disease – and their unfolding across time and space. Health, Healing and Illness in African History is the first wide-ranging survey of this key topic in African history and the history of health and medicine, and the ideal introduction for students.

Living with HIV in Post-Crisis Times

Living with HIV in Post-Crisis Times
Author: David A.B. Murray
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 255
Release: 2021-08-18
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1666901490

Over the past decade, effective prevention and treatment policies have resulted in global health organizations claiming that the end of the HIV/AIDS crisis is near and that HIV/AIDS is now a chronic but manageable disease. These proclamations have been accompanied by stagnant or decreasing public interest in and financial support for people living with HIV and the organizations that support them, minimizing significant global disparities in the management and control of the HIV pandemic. The contributors to this edited collection explore how diverse communities of people living with HIV (PLHIV) and organizations that support them are navigating physical, social, political, and economic challenges during these so-called “post-crisis” times.

Food Aid in Sudan

Food Aid in Sudan
Author: Susanne Jaspars
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 265
Release: 2018-05-15
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1786992108

In 2004, the UN's Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan called Darfur the world's worst humanitarian crisis. A comprehensive food aid programme soon followed, at the time the largest in the world. Yet by 2014, while the crisis continued, international agencies found they had limited access to much of the population, with the Sudanese regime effectively controlling who received aid. As a result, acute malnutrition remains persistently high. Food Aid in Sudan argues that the situation in Sudan is emblematic of a far wider problem. Analysing the history of food aid in the country over fifty years, Jaspars shows that such aid often serves to enrich local regimes and the private sector while leaving war-torn populations in a state of permanent emergency. Drawing on her decades of experience as an aid worker and researcher in the region, and extensive interviews with workers in the food aid process, Jaspars brings together two key topics of our time: the failure of the humanitarian system to respond to today's crises, and the crisis in the global food system. Essential reading for students and researchers across the social sciences studying the nature and effectiveness of contemporary humanitarianism, development and international aid.

Politics and Government in South Africa

Politics and Government in South Africa
Author: Mueni Wa Muiu
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 251
Release: 2023-06-20
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1000895289

Politics and Government in South Africa introduces readers to all aspects of government and politics in South Africa, from local, to provincial, national, and on to international considerations. The perfect guide for students and general readers, this textbook explains how South Africa’s key institutions are governed and interact with each other, and how important issues such as economics, gender, race, and class shape relations between citizens and government. Grounded in history and leading theories and debates, the book also brings in alternative perspectives from artists, writers, and popular culture, to demonstrate the diverse ways in which issues of politics and social justice are engaged with within South Africa. Written with the needs of students at the forefront, each chapter includes: Review and discussion questions Key terms and further resources Fun facts in a Did you know? section Supplementary sources and quotations in a The Past as Present section Interactive and engaging, Politics and Government in South Africa invites readers to consider what they would do in tackling issues such as land distribution, peacekeeping, South Africa’s role in the African Union, and military engagement abroad. It is an essential read for undergraduate students studying Political Science, International Relations, and African Studies, and for anyone looking to develop a deeper understanding of South Africa.

Contesting Africas New Green Revolution

Contesting Africas New Green Revolution
Author: Jacqueline Ignatova
Publisher: Zed Books Ltd.
Total Pages: 306
Release: 2021-05-20
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1786996588

‘In this insightful critique of arguments for and against GMOs as a remedy for poverty, inequality and hunger in Africa, Ignatova illuminates the way the “new Green Revolution” serves as a vehicle for philanthrocapital – generating markets and wealth for global agribusiness in the name of “pro-poor” development.’ Sara Berry, Professor Emeritus, John Hopkins University, USA ‘Ignatova’s important book illuminates profound problems with public-private partnerships that skirt democratic accountability and empower wealthy interests at the expense of local communities. But it’s not a despairing account: she centres Ghanaian activists and policy-makers who are pioneering a new type of philanthropy, one emphasizing interdependency and social justice over anti-democratic efforts to privatize seed commons. A revelatory and insightful study.’ Linsey McGoey, Professor of Sociology, University of Essex, UK ‘Like a combine through a field of genetically modified maize, Jacqueline Ignatova cuts through the rhetoric surrounding the ‘Green Revolution for Africa’ to reveal the underlying power, politics and inequities that shape agricultural development in contemporary Ghana. Full of rich empirics and analytical insights, this book is essential reading for those seeking a comprehensive understanding of how public-private partnerships and philanthropy-driven initiatives are reshaping smallholder agriculture across the African continent.’ Marcus Taylor, Associate Professor and Head of Department, Global Development Studies, Queen’s University, Canada

Decolonizing Civil Society in Mozambique

Decolonizing Civil Society in Mozambique
Author: Tanja Kleibl
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 208
Release: 2021-08-26
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1786999331

By demonstrating that Western conceptions of 'civil society' have provided the framework for interpreting societies in the Global South, Decolonizing Civil Society in Mozambique argues that it is only through a critical deconstruction of these concepts that we can start to re-balance global power relationships, both in academic discourse and in development practices. Examining the exclusionary discourses framing the support for Western-type NGOs in the development discourse - often to the exclusion of local social actors - this book dissects mainstream contemporary ideas about 'civil society', and finds a new means by which to identify local forms of social action, often based in traditional structures and spiritual discourses. Outlining new conceptual ideas for an alternative framing of Mozambique's 'civil society', Kleibl proposes a series of fresh theoretical issues and questions alongside empirical research, moving towards a series of new policy and practice arguments for rethinking and decolonizing civil society in the Global South.

Malawi

Malawi
Author: Matthias Rompel
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 217
Release: 2020-10-29
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1786995883

Malawi is one of the poorest countries on the globe. Subsistence agriculture remains at the very heart of its social fabric, and also lies at the root of its tremendous poverty. Yet while Malawi is among the worst performers in terms of per capita income and infant mortality, it is also a surprising leader in other areas (such as freedom of the press), has enjoyed over fifty years of relative stability since independence, and still holds great potential for economic development. Bringing together some of the leading experts on the country, this collection offers a comprehensive introduction to contemporary Malawi, encompassing its economy, culture, and politics. An invaluable resource for scholars and development professionals alike, the book assesses the root causes of Malawi's impoverishment, and also offers insight into how the country might break out of its development impasse.

Undoing Coups

Undoing Coups
Author: Antonia Witt
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 305
Release: 2020-09-17
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1786996863

Since the beginnings of independence, a number of African nations have been plagued by repeated coup d'états. Within the African Union (AU), there has been a concerted effort to break this cycle through the official adoption of an 'anti-coup norm', by which the AU is mandated to suspend a member state and restore constitutional order following a coup. Supporters of this stance see it as strengthening democracy in Africa, while critics argue that it has served to prop up existing regimes. But there has been little analysis of what the AU's attempts to 'restore constitutional order' have meant for individual African states. In this book, Antonia Witt looks at the legacy of the AU's intervention in Madagascar following the 2009 'Malagasy crisis', one of the increasingly relevant yet under-researched cases of non-Western intervention in Africa. The book looks at the ways in which international intervention reconfigured the political order in Madagascar, how it facilitated the power struggle within the Madagascan elite and prevented more profound political change. It also considers what the example set by the Madagascan intervention means for the wider international order in Africa and the powers attributed to African international actors such as the AU.