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Book

Sickness and Wealth - The Corporate Assault on Global Health

Edited by Meredith Fort, Mary Anne Mercer, Oscar Gish. Published by South End Press, Boston. 2004. ISBN #0-89608-716-6 (now available in Spanish)

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Availability

Sickness and Wealth is available in local bookstores or through the publisher, South End Press. $18.00 / ISBN #0-89608-716-6 The book is also available in Spanish, under the title El Negocio de la Salud, from the Spanish publisher Paidós. It is available from bookstores in Spain and in seven South American countries.

Book Description

In this powerful and accessible collection of new essays, international scholars and activists examine how official and corporate actors of globalization-including multinationals, the IMF and World Bank, the World Trade Organization, and "first world" governments-have enacted policies that limit medical access and promote disease and death for many in the poor world. The contributors to Sickness and Wealth provide a history of health and "development" strategies; reveal the grim health consequences of these policies throughout the world; and highlight the work of activists and organizations currently working for improved global health. Edited by affiliates of Health Alliance International, which is based at the University of Washington in Seattle, Sickness and Wealth features lucid explanations on this pressing topic, as well as instructive graphics and strong photography. Sickness and Wealth provides a history and context for health and development strategies; shows how profit-driven "development" policies are being exported to countries throughout the world; and reveals the actual health consequences of profit-driven policies, and highlights the work of several social movements currently confronting globalization and working toward improved health. Authors include Vandana Shiva, revealing the effects of industrial agriculture on poor people's health; Patrick Bond, exposing the political roots of South Africa's cholera epidemic; Evelyne Hong, exploring the role of international agencies and corporations in health care; Seiji Yamada, documenting how militarism and war produce disease; and several writers describing how the struggle for people's health is, itself, becoming globalized.

Editors

Meredith Fort, Mary Anne Mercer, Oscar Gish.

Contributors

Stephen Bezruchka, Joseph Brenner, Patrick Bond, Alejandro Ceron, Abhijit Das, Paul Davis, Meredith Fort, Oscar Gish, Steve Gloyd, Tim Holtz, Evelyne Hong, Celia Iriart, Patrick Kachur, Mary Anne Mercer, Emerson Merhy, Ellen Shaffer, Vandana Shiva, Juan Carlos Verdugo, Howard Waitzkin, Seiji Yamada.

Table of Contents

  • Preface

    Diagnosing Global Injustice by Joia Mukherjee

  • Introduction

    Globalization and Health by Meredith Fort

  • Section I:

    Brief history of health and development strategies -

    • Chapter 1

      The Lethal Divide: How Economic Inequality Affects Health by Stephen Bezruchka and Mary Anne Mercer

    • Chapter 2

      The Legacy of Colonial Medicine by Oscar Gish

    • Chapter 3

      The Primary Health Care Movement Meets the Free Market by Evelyne Hong

    • Chapter 4

      Sapping the Poor: The Impact of Structural Adjustment Programs by Steve Gloyd

  • Section II:

    Expansion of the neoliberal model -

    • Chapter 5

      The Failures of Neoliberalism: Health Sector Reform in Guatemala by Juan Carlos Verdugo

    • Chapter 6

      HMO’S Abroad: Managed Care in Latin America by Celia Iriart, Howard Waitzkin, and Emerson Merhy

    • Chapter 7

      Trade and Health Care: Corporatizing Vital Human Services by Ellen Shaffer and Joseph Brenner

    • Chapter 8

      Militarism and the Social Production of Disease by Seiji Yamada

  • Section III:

    How economic globalization policies affect health -

    • Chapter 9

      Stolen Harvest: The Hijacking of the Global Food Supply by Vandana Shiva

    • Chapter 10

      The Political Roots of South Africa's Epidemic by Patrick Bond

    • Chapter 11

      The Reglobalization of Malaria by Timothy Holtz and S. Patrick Kachur

    • Chapter 12

      The Battle Against Global AIDS by Paul Davis and Meredith Fort

  • Section IV:

    Mobilizing for health -

    • Chapter 13

      The Struggles for People’s Health by Alejandro Cerón, Abhijit Das, and Meredith Fort

    • Conclusion

      Shall We Leave It to the Experts? by Mary Anne Mercer

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Health Alliance International

We are a nongovernmental organization that supports governments in strengthening health systems and providing health care for all. We are affiliated with the University of Washington.

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