Unequal Worlds of Care

Global health experts are optimistic that the end of AIDS is within reach. Yet while programs to combat HIV/AIDS have been instrumental, they exist alongside public healthcare systems that struggle to gain attention and support. Unequal Worlds of Care examines how policymakers, providers, and patients in Malawi navigate a healthcare system transformed unevenly by foreign aid.

The book illustrates how actors contend with global health programs that only partially recognize their healthcare realities, through methods that include political resistance, refusal of treatment, and simply leveraging opportunities within unequal systems of care. Ultimately, these programs’ disregard for fundamental aspects of healthcare have produced only partial recoveries. Amy Zhou’s work provides a comprehensive portrait of the human costs of institutional constraints—as well as the essential ingenuity and dignity of the people continuing to pursue care along these uncertain pathways.