Over the past two decades, women’s health has claimed a prominent place on the global stage. Govts, multilateral agencies, and philanthropic foundations have poured in billions of dollars. High-profile conferences have become routine, while celebrities, and political leaders have amplified the urgency of addressing women’s health and rights. Yet, for all this, a stark and unsettling reality persists: AIDS continues to be the leading cause of death among young women, with one woman contracting HIV every minute. And, every two minutes, a woman dies from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth.
In sick of it: The Global Fight for Women’s Health, Sophie Harman interrogates this contradiction, unpacking the politics that shape global health priorities. What began as a necessary and overdue effort to correct centuries of male bias in medicine, has, in many cases, evolved into a space influenced by cynical political calculations, corporate interests, and Big Pharma priorities.
