This book investigates the history of women’s reproductive health in Ghana,

arguing that between the 1920s and 1980s, it was largely driven by discourses of

development and population control rather than a concern for women’s health or

rights.

Between the 1920s and 1980s, the choices that Ghanaian women made

regarding their reproductive health were defined by development policy and

practice. Spanning the colonial and immediate postcolonial periods, this book

demonstrates that whilst the substance of development discourse shifted over

time, principles of development continued to be used to impact and legitimise

reproductive health policy and practices well after independence. The book

explores Ghana’s pluralist health system, the introduction of maternal and child

welfare, the dominance of the Red Cross in Ghana’s maternal and child health

landscape, nationalist pronatalism and global population activism. In order to

understand how global iterations of development and health policy impacted

ordinary lives in Ghana, the author uses evidence from multiple ‘levels,’ including

private papers, national archives and records of international and transnational

organisations. Providing balanced archival perspectives, the book includes

extensive oral history interviews carried out with both rural Ghanaian women and

traditional birth attendants, as well as with midwives, doctors and family planning

fieldworkers.

This book will have an important impact on a number of historical fields

including Ghanaian history, global health history, global histories of population

and family planning and histories of development. It will be of interest to

researchers and students in the history of public health, development, Africa,

Ghana and gender.

Les mer

This book explores the history of women's reproductive health in Ghana, arguing that between the 1920s and 1980s, it was largely driven by discourses of development and population control. The book will be of interest to researchers and students in the history of public health, development and Africa.

Les mer

Introduction Chapter 1: Hoping for Growth: population and development in colonial Gold Coast 1920 - 1932 Chapter 2: Humanitarianism in the Gold Coast 1932-1939: the establishment of maternal and infant welfare Chapter 3: Social Development and Medicalising Reproduction 1940-1956 Chapter 4: Reproducing the Nation in Nkrumah’s Ghana 1952 – 1966 Chapter 5: Establishing the National Family Planning Programme, 1966 - 1972 Chapter 6: From Population Control to Primary Health Care? Rural Health Interventions in Ghana, 1969 – 1982 Afterword Bibliography

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Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9781032227863
Publisert
2024-08-26
Utgiver
Vendor
Routledge
Vekt
489 gr
Høyde
234 mm
Bredde
156 mm
Aldersnivå
U, P, 05, 06
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Heftet
Antall sider
254

Forfatter

Biographical note

Holly Ashford completed her PhD in History at Cambridge University, UK.