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- Convenors:
-
Clémence Schantz
(Ceped UMR 196)
Carine Baxerres (LPED IRDAix-Marseille Université)
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- Stream:
- Health
- Location:
- Gordon Aikman Lecture Theatre
- Sessions:
- Thursday 13 June, -
Time zone: Europe/London
Short Abstract:
In the context of new movements embedded in the "Global Health", we aim at exploring the circulation of biomedical knowledge and materiality between Africa and Asia through different cases studies: circulation of biomedical practices, objects and technologies, and circulation of health professionals
Long Abstract:
While the circulation of medical knowledge and materiality has long been part of historical relationships rooted in a colonial past between countries from 'the North' to countries from 'the South', this circulation has taken on a different face since the 60's time of African independencies, with an acceleration in the 2000's and the passage into the new era of "Global Health". Circulation in the biomedical field involves circulation of knowledge, practices (the technicisation of childbirth through caesarean section for example), objects and technologies (pharmaceuticals, diagnostic tests, active ingredients, etc.) and health professionals (through medical trainings or cooperation).
Through a transregional theory currently growing in social sciences that we would like to strengthen from grounded case studies, this panel aims to explore the global flow of circulation of biomedical knowledge and materiality between Africa and Asia and its implications on the different societies at both part of the Indian Ocean. We are waiting for propositions that could include historical, anthropological, sociological, geographical aspects with no limitation in disciplines. The panel aims at covering all fields of biomedicine.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Thursday 13 June, 2019, -Lucia Candelise (Losanna University) Antoine Kernen (University of Lausanne)
Paper short abstract:
China's influence in the health African field is far from negligible and it is taking place in unexpected areas. This presentation examines local appropriation of remedies and therapeutic objects coming from China into the health Cameroonian landscape in contemporary times.
Paper long abstract:
In the field of health, China's contribution is generally addressed either through its cooperation programs (Li 2011) or by the opening of private clinics by Chinese "doctors" (Kernen & Vulliet2008).
In Cameroon, since 1975, medical teams composed of a dozen doctors of different specializations, including an acupuncturist, take turns every four years in few hospitals (Mbalmayo, Yaoundé, Guiding, Douala). In the cities, some private practices have been opened and work has highlighted their role in the dissemination of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) (Prince Pokam 2011, Wassouni 2010, Monteillet 2011).
During the last 10 years, the circulation of goods and knowledge from China leaves more room for local appropriation. In today's terms, however, the "Africanization of Chinese medicine" operates generally without Chinese "doctor", but simply by the use of Chinese products or therapeutic practices inspired by China. Some Cameroonian therapists stage a Chinese or Asian inspiration, others simply use "machines" of Chinese manufacture (Candelise & Kernen 2019). And some of them offer in their pharmacies, Chinese dietary supplements, alongside decoctions of locally produced plants (Ergot & Simon 2012).
From direct observations conducted between 2014 and 2018, the purpose of this intervention is to show the challenges of the insertion of remedies and therapeutic objects (machines) coming from China into the health Cameroonian landscape in contemporary times. The idea will be, on the one hand, to show the representations that these objects mobilize with therapists. On the other hand, to question the dynamics this circulation induces on the Cameroonian medical pluralism.
Heather Hamill (University of Oxford) Kate Hampshire (Durham University) Gerry Mshana (National Institute for Medical Research) Joseph Mwanga
Paper short abstract:
Based on fieldwork in Tanzania (2015-16), this paper asks what the increased reliance on medicine imports from India means for healthcare access in Tanzania and what ideas and concerns are bundled up with the movement of medicines across continents.
Paper long abstract:
Social, cultural and economic ties between East Africa and South Asia have deep historical roots, which play out in complex ways in the movement of medicines from India to Tanzania. The diminishing capacity of the Tanzanian pharmaceutical manufacturing industry over the last couple of decades, during a period of economic liberalisation, has increased reliance on imports from India in particular. In this paper, based on fieldwork in Dar-es-Salaam and Mwanza (2015-16), we ask what this means for healthcare access in Tanzania, and what ideas and concerns are bundled up with the movement of medicines. While the availability of cheap imports has had undoubted benefits for the supply of essential medicines in Tanzania, many of our interviewees - from Government officials to consumers - were concerned about the implications for security of supply, domestic manufacture and the integrity of supply chains. Concerns about medicine quality, fuelled by rumours that products that do not meet international safety standards are shipped off the Africa, and instabilities in global markets increase the potential uncertainties and vulnerabilities of heavy dependence on Asian imports.