TY - JOUR
T1 - "We Can't Give Up Now"
T2 - Global Health Optimism and Polio Eradication in Pakistan
AU - Closser, Svea
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was funded by the National Science Foundation, the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, Emory University, and Middlebury College. The research was approved by the Emory University Institutional Review Board and the Middlebury College Institutional Review Board. Patricia Fogarty, Elizabeth Milewicz, Erin Finley, the participants in a Fall 2009 Society for Medical Anthropology panel titled ‘‘Polio Histories, Geographies of Blame, and Global Health,’’ and several anonymous reviewers provided useful comments and feedback. Portions of this article first appeared in Chasing Polio in Pakistan: Why the World’s Largest Public Health Project May Fail (Vanderbilt University Press 2010).
Copyright:
Copyright 2013 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2012/9
Y1 - 2012/9
N2 - The Polio Eradication Initiative, the largest coordinated public health project in history, is currently facing serious difficulties. For years, it has tried and failed to eliminate polio from its last strongholds in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Nigeria. Drawing on document analysis as well as participant observation and interviews in Pakistan, Atlanta, Geneva, and Montreal, I explore how officials in the Polio Eradication Initiative systematically devalued or quieted evidence that eradication was not achievable and emphasized evidence that it was achievable, thus creating a string of optimistic projections. Polio eradication's culture of optimism ensures the continuation of the project by convincing donors and officials alike that eradication is immanent. At the same time, it prevents open, objective analysis of the problems the project faces.
AB - The Polio Eradication Initiative, the largest coordinated public health project in history, is currently facing serious difficulties. For years, it has tried and failed to eliminate polio from its last strongholds in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Nigeria. Drawing on document analysis as well as participant observation and interviews in Pakistan, Atlanta, Geneva, and Montreal, I explore how officials in the Polio Eradication Initiative systematically devalued or quieted evidence that eradication was not achievable and emphasized evidence that it was achievable, thus creating a string of optimistic projections. Polio eradication's culture of optimism ensures the continuation of the project by convincing donors and officials alike that eradication is immanent. At the same time, it prevents open, objective analysis of the problems the project faces.
KW - Pakistan
KW - World Health Organization
KW - eradication
KW - global health
KW - poliomyelitis
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U2 - 10.1080/01459740.2011.645927
DO - 10.1080/01459740.2011.645927
M3 - Article
C2 - 22881380
AN - SCOPUS:84864992713
VL - 31
SP - 385
EP - 403
JO - Medical Anthropology: Cross Cultural Studies in Health and Illness
JF - Medical Anthropology: Cross Cultural Studies in Health and Illness
SN - 0145-9740
IS - 5
ER -