Book ID: CBB172698085

No More to Spend: Neglect and the Construction of Scarcity in Malawi's History of Health Care (2020)

unapi

Luke Messac (Author)


Oxford University Press


Publication Date: 2020
Physical Details: 298
Language: English

Dismal spending on government health services is often considered a necessary consequence of a low per-capita GDP, but are poor patients in poor countries really fated to be denied the fruits of modern medicine? In many countries, officials speak of proper health care as a luxury, and convincing politicians to ensure citizens have access to quality health services is a constant struggle. Yet, in many of the poorest nations, health care has long received a tiny share of public spending. Colonial and postcolonial governments alike have used political, rhetorical, and even martial campaigns to rebuff demands by patients and health professionals for improved medical provision, even when more funds were available. No More to Spend challenges the inevitability of inadequate social services in twentieth-century Africa, focusing on the political history of Malawi. Using the stories of doctors, patients, and political leaders, Luke Messac demonstrates how both colonial and postcolonial administrations in this nation used claims of scarcity to justify the poor state of health care. During periods of burgeoning global discourse on welfare and social protection, forestalling improvements in health care required varied forms of rationalization and denial. Calls for better medical care compelled governments, like that of Malawi, to either increase public health spending or offer reasons for their inaction. Because medical care is still sparse in many regions in Africa, the recurring tactics for prolonged neglect have important implications for global health today.

...More
Reviewed By

Review Shireen Hamza; Kelsey Henry (2021) Review of "Recipes and Everyday Knowledge: Medicine, Science, and the Household in Early Modern England". Gender and History (pp. 805-821). unapi

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB172698085/

Similar Citations

Book Mulwafu, Wapulumuka Oliver; (2011)
Conservation Song: A History of Peasant-State Relations and the Environment in Malawi, 1860--2000 (/isis/citation/CBB001422348/)

Article Jones, M.; (2000)
The Ceylon malaria epidemic of 1934--35: A case study in colonial medicine (/isis/citation/CBB000111976/)

Book Catherine Carstairs; Bethany Philpott; Sara Wilmshurst; (2018)
Be Wise! Be Healthy!: Morality and Citizenship in Canadian Public Health Campaigns (/isis/citation/CBB480455058/)

Book Starr, Paul; (2011)
Remedy and Reaction: The Peculiar American Struggle over Health Care Reform (/isis/citation/CBB001214284/)

Book Hayward, Rhodri; (2014)
The Transformation of the Psyche in British Primary Care, 1870--1970 (/isis/citation/CBB001422161/)

Book Thomas, Karen Kruse; (2011)
Deluxe Jim Crow: Civil Rights and American Health Policy, 1935--1954 (/isis/citation/CBB001251130/)

Article Catherine Carstairs; Ian Mosby; (2020)
Colonial Extractions: Oral Health Care and Indigenous Peoples in Canada, 1945–79 (/isis/citation/CBB028582001/)

Chapter Anderson, Warwick; (2010)
Biomedicine in Chinese East Asia: From Semicolonial to Postcolonial? (/isis/citation/CBB001252508/)

Article Justo, Célia Maria Patriani; Gomes, Mara H. de Andréa; (2007)
A cidade de Santos no roteiro de expansão da homeopatia nos serviços públicos de saúde no Brasil (/isis/citation/CBB000831543/)

Article Machado, Ana Regina; Miranda, Paulo Sérgio Carneiro; (2007)
Fragmentos da história da atenção à saúde para usuários de álcool e outras drogas no Brasil: da Justiça à Saúde Pública (/isis/citation/CBB000831536/)

Book Irwin, Julia; (2013)
Making the World Safe: The American Red Cross and a Nation's Humanitarian Awakening (/isis/citation/CBB001212965/)

Article Mitchell, Glenn; (2010)
Public Health in an Industrial Community: Port Kembla, 1907--2007 (/isis/citation/CBB001232076/)

Article Marchildon, Gregory P.; (2009)
The Policy History of Canadian Medicare (/isis/citation/CBB001024807/)

Article Gooder, Claire; (2010)
A Dissident Voice in New Zealand Wartime Sex Education (/isis/citation/CBB001232082/)

Book Ellen Welch; (2018)
The NHS at 70: A Living History (/isis/citation/CBB299066145/)

Authors & Contributors
Carstairs, Catherine
Street, Alice
Bethany Philpott
Welch, Ellen
Wilmshurst, Sara
Shin, Y. J.
Concepts
Public health
Medicine and government
Health care
Colonialism
Postcolonialism
Poverty
Time Periods
20th century
19th century
21st century
20th century, late
20th century, early
Places
United States
Canada
Brazil
Australia
Great Britain
Papua New Guinea
Institutions
National Health Service (Great Britain)
American Red Cross
Comments

Be the first to comment!

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}

Log in or register to comment