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Week 7: Post-Colonial Humanitarianism

Seminar Questions

  • How do international NGOs relate with African states? Consider the example of MSF in Nigeria, and the necessity, benefits, and difficulties of NGO and state cooperation.
  • How have post-colonial international humanitarians made choices about which diseases and health issues to target? What obstacles have been faced, from the perspective of international and local, African populations, in the course of these medical initiatives?

Required Reading

  • Claire Magone and Michael Neumann, Humanitarian Negotiations Revealed: The MSF Experience (2012), pg. 129-146. [Course Extracts]
  • Randall Packard, The Making of a Tropical Disease: A Short History of Malaria (2007), (Chapter 6) [Talis Aspire]
  • Allen T. & Parker M. (2011) The ‘Other Diseases’ of the Millennium Development Goals: rhetoric and reality of free drug distribution to cure the poor’s parasites. Third World Quarterly 32(1), 91–117. [e-journal]

Recommended Reading

  • Alex de Waal, Famine Crimes: Politics and the Disaster Relief Industry in Africa (2009), pg. 65-85. [Course Extracts]

Further Sites for Information

Further Reading

  • Claire Magone and Michael Neumann, Humanitarian Negotiations Revealed: The MSF Experience (2012).
  • Randall Packard, The Making of a Tropical Disease: A Short History of Malaria (2007).

  • Marcos Cueto, 'A Return to the Magic Bullet? Malaria and Global Health in the Twenty-First Century' in J. Biehl and A. Petryna, When People Come First: Critical Studies of Global Health (2013).

Further Reading on NTDs

  • Allen T. & Parker M. (2012) Will increased funding for neglected tropical diseases really make poverty history? The Lancet 379(9821), 1097–1098.
  • Molyneux, Malecela, Savioli, Fenwick, and Hotez, ‘Will increased funding for neglected tropical diseases really make poverty history? – Authors’ reply’, The Lancet 379(9821), 1098-1100.

  • Parker M. & Allen T. (2011) ‘Does mass drug administration for the integrated treatment of neglected tropical diseases really work? Assessing evidence for the control of schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminths in Uganda. Health Research Policy and Systems 9, 3.

  • Parker M. & Allen T. (2014) De-politicizing parasites: reflections on attempts to control the control of neglected tropical diseases. Medical Anthropology 33(3), 223–239.

  • Hastings J.(2016) Rumours, riots and rejection of mass drug administration for the treatment of schistosomiasis in Morogoro, Tanzania. Journal of Biosocial Science 48(S1), S16–S39.

  • Kisoka W. J., Tersbol B. P., Meyrowitsch D. M., Simonsen P. E. & Mushi D. L. (2016) Community members’ perceptions of mass drug administration for control of lymphatic filariasis in rural and urban Tanzania. Journal of Biosocial Science 48(1), 94–112.

  • Hotez P. J., Fenwick A., Savioli L. & Molyneux D. H. (2009) Rescuing the bottom billion through control of neglected tropical diseases. The Lancet 373, 1570–1575.

  • Molyneux D. H. (2012) The ‘Neglected Tropical Diseases’: now a brand identity; responsibilities, context and promise. Parasites & Vectors 5, 23.

  • Molyneux D. H., Hotez P. J. & Fenwick A. (2005) Rapid-impact interventions: how a policy of integrated control for Africa’s neglected tropical diseases could benefit the poor. PLoS Medicine 2(11), e.336