"Viewing the contemporary world from the perspective of health outcomes, this penetrating and often harrowing
inquiry provides a wealth of valuble insights and analyses, woven together with in-depth studies that are poignant,
vivid, and highly informative. It is a challenge to complacency, a thoughtful and compelling call to action."
--Noam Chomsky, Professor of Linguistics and Philosophy, Massachusettes Institute of Technology
"Thanks to the painstaking research, uncompromising analysis and compassionate advocacy of the Institute
for Health and Social Justice, official and corporate actors of globalization will have no place to hide. Dying
For Growth reveals in relentless detail the brutal health outcomes of their policies and provides proof positive
that their vaunted 'concern for the poor' is a sham. A big, thorough, important book full of high caliber ammunition
to be directed forthwith at the originators of limitless human suffering."
--Susan George, Associate Director of the Transnational Institute, author of A Fate Worse Than Debt and Faith
and Credit
"Dying For Growth is a deeply intelligent, thoroughly researched analysis of global health and inequality
at the end of the 20th Century. It is a book of passion and courage that does not simply make indignant claims,
but rather provides solid evidence of a causal relationship between failures of the current development paradigm
and worsening poverty and human suffering. Written by a team of experienced health practitioners, social scientists
and development workers, the volume speaks from both the heart and the mind about the urgent need to prioritize
social justice and universal health improvements. Dying For Growth is a 'must-read' for all citizens and activists
commited to meaningful change, who believe that health is central to the dignity of the person."
--James Orbinski, President, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) International Council, MSF was awarded
the 1999 Nobel Peace Prize.
Common Courage Press Web Site, April, 2002
Summary
Myth: Throwing loans at developing nations will cure poverty.
Fact: As shown in "Sickness Amidst Recovery: Public Debt and Private Suffering in a Peruvian Shanty Town,"
loans can make things worse.
Myth: Getting rid of big government automatically improves the standard of living.
Fact: Cutting services can lead to calamity, as detailed in "Neoliberal Economic Policy, State Desertion and
the Russian Health Crisis."
Myth: The free market is a panacea.
Fact: There's nothing liberating about modern capitalism, as demonstrated in "'Todo Bajo Control': The Costs
of 'Free' Trade to Mexican Maquiladora Workers."
Table of Contents
Pt. I Introduction to the Problem
Ch. 1. Introduction: What is Growing? Who is Dying?
Ch. 2. Getting a Grip on the Global Economy
Ch. 3. Terms Reconsidered: Decoding Development Discourse
Pt. II Growth Strategies, State Restructuring, and the Health of the Poor
Ch. 4. Hypocrisies of Development and the Health of the Haitian Poor
Ch. 5. Theoretical Therapies, Remote Remedies: SAPs and the Political Ecology of Poverty and Health in Africa
Ch. 6. Sickness Amidst Recovery: Public Debt and Private Suffering in Peru
Ch. 7. Neoliberal Economic Policy, "State Desertion," and the Russian Health Crisis
Pt. III Powerful Players, Harmful Consequences: Transnational Corporations, Inequality, and Health
Ch. 8. Dying for Growth, Part I: Transnational Corporations and the Health of the Poor
Ch. 9. Dying for Growth, Part II: The Political Influence of National and Transnational Corporations
Ch. 10. Tragedy Without End: The 1984 Bhopal Gas Disaster
Ch. 11. Neoliberal Trade and Investment and the Health of Maquiladora Workers on the U.S.-Mexico Border
Pt. IV Illicit Growth: U.S. Drug Policy and Global Inequality
Ch. 12. The Drug War in Perspective
Pt. V Alternatives to the Agenda
Ch. 13. "The Threat of a Good Example": Health and Revolution in Cuba
Ch. 14. The Smoke and Mirrors of Health Reform in El Salvador: Community Health NGOs and the Not-So-Neoliberal
State
Ch. 15. Conclusion: Pessimism of the Intellect, Optimism of the Will
Ch. 16. Pragmatic Solidarity
