Overview

Explores informal global health action and the importance of intentions of those who volunteer In the past two decades, medical missions have gained popularity among medical professionals, who view these excursions as important ethical interventions. Indeed, the notion of giving back by volunteering in rural or impoverished communities is celebrated as an ideal act of selflessness, one whose effects are unquestionably beneficial to those being served. Good Intentions in Global Health is a groundbreaking exploration of the growing realm of informal global health engagement, shedding light on the intricate interplay between intentions, emotions, and ethical considerations. Drawing on fieldwork in Guatemala, Nicole S. Berry investigates those who volunteer for short-term medical missions, revealing how the intent to do good shapes their everyday understandings of their own actions taken in the global health domain. Berry uncovers how the glorification of medical missions can obscure problems that stem from North American clinicians doctoring in places where they typically do not understand the context. The short-term nature of missions also means that volunteers are not privy to the long-term effects of their actions—the potential harms that may arise from a lack of sustained follow-up care or the utter absence of documentation that they were even there. By relying on gut instincts to reassure themselves that they are doing good, volunteers often bypass a comprehensive assessment of the ethical dimensions underlying their global health work. Good Intentions in Global Health shows why desires and emotions are increasingly important to contemporary global health. She makes the case that we must pay attention to volunteers’ perceptions of their work, however wrongheaded or naïve, in order to truly influence global health on the ground.

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9781479825363

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Reviews

Critics worry that short-term global health interventions are mostly ineffective, always ephemeral, sometimes harmful, and often illegal. Yet they draw huge numbers of professionals from high-income countries to places with fewer resources. In this provocative book, Nicole S. Berry illuminates a paradox: why the very conditions that trouble critics ensure that ‘DIY global health’ feels like a moral good to participants. * Claire Wendland, University of Wisconsin–Madison * Interest in acquiring international health experiences through short-term medical missions and volunteer tourism has led to critical questions about ethics, responsibility, white saviorism, and unintended negative consequences for receiving communities in Global South countries. . . . Berry provides a deep perspective on why people from the Global North see global health work as ethically important work. . . . In this unique and innovative analysis, [she] encourages scholars, practitioners, and students to reflect on their emotions in order to avoid undermining social justice and accountability despite their good intentions. * Ananya Tina Banerjee, McGill University *

Author Information

Nicole S. Berry is a Professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University. She is the author of Unsafe Motherhood: Mayan Maternal Mortality and Subjectivity in Post-War Guatemala.

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