Zoom ID: 685 8590 4759 | Passcode: 914502
Abstract
Despite growing concern about the mortality and morbidity burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in East Africa, there has been a lack of political action to implement NCD treatment and prevention programs, raising fundamental questions about the production and persistence of NCD precariousness. This talk will present ethnographic findings and ongoing research on the emerging discourses and therapeutic practices addressing the rising rates of NCDs, particularly diabetes and hypertension, in Zanzibar—a low-income island population.
I will discuss the following questions: How—and by whom—do the often-invisible NCDs become visible in the politico-economic context of Zanzibar, characterised by stratified access to health care such? How are these NCDs socially produced and framed? What forces have contributed to the relative neglect of the “NCD epidemic” in this region?
I will approach these questions from three successive perspectives: First, I will outline the historical developments and discursive frameworks that have shaped perceptions of African publics, using anthropological and historical insides to explore how the precariousness of NCDs is produced within global health policy, highlighting the political economy of knowledge and the resulting visibilities and invisibilities. Secondly, I will examine how diabetes and hypertension are “made” and managed in Zanzibar, focusing on the interplay between the (in)visibility of these NCDs, policies, and healthcare infrastructures. Lastly, I will explore the connections between NCDs, socio-economic conditions, epidemiological imaginaries, and growing concerns about environmental toxification. The talk will conclude with a critical medical anthropological perspective on the meanings of NCDs, addressing the uncertainties that influence approaches to NCDs and moving beyond dominant public health frameworks that often individualize risk factors.
Bionote
Caroline Meier zu Biesen is an anthropologist and sociologist specialized in medical anthropology and global and planetary health. She is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the LeipzigLab “Global Health” at the University of Leipzig.
.png)