Ethical Challenges in Health Policy
Location
Harkins 300, Providence College
Event Website
http://www.providence.edu/hpm/Pages/Conference.aspx
Start Date
31-3-2012 2:30 PM
End Date
31-3-2012 4:00 PM
Description
« La personne humaine est sacrée (2)… Le domicile est inviolable. Les atteintes ou restrictions ne peuvent y être apportées que par la loi. (4) La famille constitue la cellule de base de la société. L'État assure sa protection. (5)» Constitution of La Côte d’Ivoire, Articles 2,4,5[1]
The Ivoirian national constitution, authored and enacted in July of 2000, while expressing a devotion to democratic thought (Preamble) and to the sovereignty of the individual (Article 2), also acknowledges the primacy of the Ivoirian family and collective identity as the basis of society and advances a moral duty on the part of the state to honor and protect them (Articles 4-5). The Ivoirian constitution seeks to embrace the Western tradition through its enshrinement of the human individual and its use of rationalist argument while maintaining fidelity to African ideals of human collectivism.
In this paper, I will situate the seropositive Ivoirian mother within the tensions of these philosophical commitments and demonstrate the ways in which ethical subjectivity and health status are mediated by them. I will describe some of the challenges of lactation in sub-Saharan countries. I will use exclusive breastfeeding, a PMTCT strategy, to explore the ways in which western public health, which conceives of mothers as independent rational actors, has not imagined African mothers in their collectivist context. Lastly, I will discuss new models for reproductive policy which address the unique problem of the seropositive mother in sub-Saharan Africa.
[1] From “Le people du côte”: Constitution du Côte d’Ivoire. 2000.
Included in
African Languages and Societies Commons, Bioethics and Medical Ethics Commons, Ethics and Political Philosophy Commons, Health Policy Commons, Immune System Diseases Commons, Political Science Commons
Sacrée et Inviolable: The HIV+ Mother in Ivoirian Health Policy
Harkins 300, Providence College
« La personne humaine est sacrée (2)… Le domicile est inviolable. Les atteintes ou restrictions ne peuvent y être apportées que par la loi. (4) La famille constitue la cellule de base de la société. L'État assure sa protection. (5)» Constitution of La Côte d’Ivoire, Articles 2,4,5[1]
The Ivoirian national constitution, authored and enacted in July of 2000, while expressing a devotion to democratic thought (Preamble) and to the sovereignty of the individual (Article 2), also acknowledges the primacy of the Ivoirian family and collective identity as the basis of society and advances a moral duty on the part of the state to honor and protect them (Articles 4-5). The Ivoirian constitution seeks to embrace the Western tradition through its enshrinement of the human individual and its use of rationalist argument while maintaining fidelity to African ideals of human collectivism.
In this paper, I will situate the seropositive Ivoirian mother within the tensions of these philosophical commitments and demonstrate the ways in which ethical subjectivity and health status are mediated by them. I will describe some of the challenges of lactation in sub-Saharan countries. I will use exclusive breastfeeding, a PMTCT strategy, to explore the ways in which western public health, which conceives of mothers as independent rational actors, has not imagined African mothers in their collectivist context. Lastly, I will discuss new models for reproductive policy which address the unique problem of the seropositive mother in sub-Saharan Africa.
[1] From “Le people du côte”: Constitution du Côte d’Ivoire. 2000.
https://digitalcommons.providence.edu/auchs/2012/panelc1/1
