Pathologies of Patriarchy

Pathologies of Patriarchy explores the gendered inequalities that bar HIV-positive women in the Nigerian delta region from the HIV treatment seemingly available to them. Eloho Ese Basikoro brings together an ethnographic study and geographic analysis with practical implementation questions concerning current policy and global health programming.

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In the delta region of Nigeria, women seeking HIV care face a plethora of deeply gendered inequalities. As a result, HIV-positive women are often unable to use the treatment schemes that are seemingly available to them.

Pathologies of Patriarchy brings together a geographic analysis of gendered inequalities with practical implementation questions concerning the limits of current global health programming. This book is an experiential analysis of HIV treatment programs that includes first-hand accounts of how female patients explain and cope with the poor access to and the inconsistencies in the delivery of HIV service care that complicates their adherence to treatment, and the complex power relations they navigate daily. Eloho Ese Basikoro also addresses the failures of policy-makers who talk about gender mainstreaming but fail to deliver sustainable health services for disenfranchised women suffering from the social stigma and alienation associated with seropositivity.

This inter-regional study is of disciplinary and interdisciplinary interest to a wide variety of scholars and policy-makers, whether they are researching gendered inequality from a geographical, anthropological or global health perspective, or interested in broader concerns about development and inequality in sub-Saharan Africa.