A future beyond HIV/AIDS? Health as a political commodity in Botswana

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Periodical article

Title:	A future beyond HIV/AIDS? Health as a political commodity in Botswana
Author:	Bochow, Astrid
Year:	2015
Periodical:	Africa Spectrum (ISSN 0002-0397)
Volume:	50
Issue:	1
Pages:	25-47
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Botswana
Subjects:	humanitarian assistance health policy AIDS hospitals
External link:	https://journals.sub.uni-hamburg.de/giga/afsp/article/view/827
Abstract:	Referencing scholarly debates on humanitarianism and specifically HIV interventions, this article analyses the commodification of health in Botswana's political arena throughout the HIV pandemic and beyond, contributing to a re-evaluation of the distribution of public wealth and international support in welfare states in Africa. The starting point of the analysis is a project to build a private hospital ('Bokamoso') - a move to create a centre of excellence exclusive of international HIV/AIDS donations - and the staging of political responsibilities around it. Public investment into private health is an attempt to reform infrastructures built with HIV/AIDS money and to develop a market of high-paying jobs within the country. This process transforms the inalienable and indivisible condition of health and survival into a political commodity. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. in English and German. [Journal abstract]