Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2016 Sep-Oct;35(5):419-32.
doi: 10.1080/01459740.2016.1167055. Epub 2016 Mar 30.

Ambiguous Capture: Collaborative Capitalism and the Meningitis Vaccine Project

Janice Graham  1
Affiliations

Ambiguous Capture: Collaborative Capitalism and the Meningitis Vaccine Project

Janice Graham. Med Anthropol. 2016 Sep-Oct.

Abstract

The primary health care approach advanced at Alma Ata to address social determinants of health was replaced by selective health care a year later at Bellagio. Subsequently, immunization was endorsed as a cost-effective technical intervention to combat targeted infectious diseases. Multilateral efforts to collaborate on immunization as a universal public health good ambiguously capture the interests of the world's governments as well as private, public, and not-for-profit institutions. Global assemblages of scientists, governments, industry and nongovernmental organizations now work in public-private partnerships to develop and make essential vaccines accessible, with vaccines marketed as single fix solutions for global health. Drawing from ethnographic fieldwork in France and Burkina Faso that followed the development, regulation, and implementation of the group A meningococcal conjugate vaccine for sub-Saharan Africa, in this article I describe events during and after the development of MenAfriVac. A technological success narrative steeped in collaborative capitalist rhetoric disguises neglected health care systems.

Keywords: Burkina Faso; public-private partnership; regulatory capture; technology transfer; vaccine development.

PubMed Disclaimer

Comment in

References

    1. Abraham J. Science, politics and the pharmaceutical industry: Controversy and bias in drug regulation. London: UCL Press; 1995.
    1. Aguado M. T., Jodar L., Granoff D., Rabinovich R., Ceccarini C., Perkin G. W. From epidemic meningitis vaccines for Africa to the Meningitis Vaccine Project. Clinical Infectious Diseases. 2015;61(S5):S391–S395. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Atun R. A., Bennett S., Duran A. When do vertical (stand-alone) programmes have a place in health system? Denmark: WHO Regional Office for Europe and European Observatory and Health Systems and Policies; 2008. Copenhagen.
    1. Barr D. A research protocol to evaluate the effectiveness of public–private partnerships as a means to improve health and welfare systems worldwide. American Journal of Public Health. 2007;97(1):19–25. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Berlier M., Barry R., Shadid J., Sirica C., Brunier A., Hasan H., Bouma E. Communication challenges during the development and introduction of a new meningococcal vaccine in Africa. Clinical Infectious Diseases. 2015;61(S5):S451–S458. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms