When People Come First Critical Studies in Global Health

"Rapid social change is the one constant in this ambitious volume. These pages come to life and are wrenching because they never seek to elide the messiness of experience. With ethnographic evidence from some of the most important theaters of global health, the authors give us a sound understanding of the collision of a crushing burden of disease, emerging audit cultures, and new therapeutic regimes. As case studies rooted in long familiarity but alive to overwhelming transformation, they will stand the test of time."--Paul Farmer, Harvard Medical School and Partners in Health "Award-winning medical anthropologists Joao Biehl and Adriana Petryna have produced a stunning and original collection. In an era of market-driven global health interventions, this volume demonstrates anthropology's unique contribution as a critically evaluative and humanizing discipline."--Marcia C. Inhorn, Yale University "Global health as a field is being redefined, from one based on narrow interventions to a more holistic focus on delivering value to patients. This requires a deep understanding of how to connect care delivery to patients, their families, and the local country context. "When People Come First" is an indispensable resource in creating the global health delivery systems of the future. Its rich case studies are essential for practitioners and scholars in designing and implementing care processes that really work."--Michael E. Porter, Harvard Business School "Global health is a big business: the World Bank, the World Health Organization, the United Nations, the Gates Foundation, academia, pharmaceutical companies, and thousands of NGOs are working to improve health around the world. Lost among these powerful groups, the supposed beneficiaries have little to say. "When People Come First" tells us why and how to make global health better. It is an eye-opener, especially for those of us locked into our comfortable disciplinary silos."--Angus Deaton, Princeton University ""When People Come First" is a truly pioneering volume that will change the kind of work that is done in the anthropology of global health in the future."--Richard G. Parker, Columbia University ""When People Come First" sets an ambitious agenda that emphasizes ethnography as an important methodological tool for better understanding health services at all levels of analysis, including at the stages of service provision, medicine marketing, and policymaking. There is no doubt that this book will be read and widely cited by scholars of global health."--Nitsan Chorev, Brown University