ABSTRACT

In 2004 Malawi began to offer antiretroviral therapy to anyone who needed it. This undertaking would have been ambitious for any nation, but it was unprecedented coming from one of the poorest countries in the world.

Health on Delivery examines this introduction of state-provided antiretroviral therapy from an ethnographic perspective. Moving from World Health Organization boardrooms in Geneva to clinics held under trees in rural Malawi, it studies the patients, healthcare providers, and policy-makers involved, considering how the rollout has impacted their lives and professions. In doing so, it examines both the challenges and successes of an ambitious attempt to provide universal HIV treatment with limited money, infrastructure, and human resources. As well as an important case study, the book also offers an analytic framework to address the processes by which global policy is made and implemented.

Engagingly written, Health on Delivery will be interesting reading for students and scholars of both anthropology and public health, as well as related disciplines such as geography, international politics and world development. It will also appeal to the general reader interested in global health policies and world development.

chapter 1|17 pages

Introduction

chapter 2|26 pages

Hierarchies of Emergency

Global Policy and the ART Rollout in Malawi

chapter 3|28 pages

Stretched Too Thin

Malawi’s National Shortage of Healthcare Workers

chapter 4|25 pages

Relationship Matters

Patient and Healthcare Provider Experiences in an Antiretroviral Clinic

chapter 5|15 pages

Reaching Out for Health

Strategies to Improve HIV Care in Village Settings

chapter 6|24 pages

Conclusion

A Lesson in Healthcare Delivery: How Global Policy Translates into HIV Care, and What We Can Learn From It