Medical Technology in Context: Maternal and Child Health Technology at Ghana's Cape Coast Teaching Hospital

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dc.contributor.authorWaldron, Ally Elizabeth
dc.date.accessioned2019-11-07T16:16:24Z
dc.date.available2019-11-07T16:16:24Z
dc.date.issued2019
dc.description90 pages
dc.description.abstractThis thesis draws on ethnography and science and technology studies to consider the use of medical technology within the context of Cape Coast Teaching Hospital in southern Ghana. All too often the transfer and integration of medical technologies to the global south are based on the simplistic assumption that the advantages of foreign technology are self-evident and universal. However, this thesis presents evidence against the idea that medical technology remains static as it travels to different healthcare contexts. Through ethnographic observation and analysis, I explore how medical technology in Cape Coast Teaching Hospital (CCTH) has the capacity to change the dynamics of the clinical space while also being changed by the health staff, patients, and families with which they interact. To demonstrate this phenomenon, I investigate three medical technologies involved in maternal and newborn health at CCTH. I show how the ultrasound machine, pulse oximeter, and neonatal incubator, change in this context to fit the needs of health professionals and patients while also working to change the way people relate to each other and their illnesses. Through exploration of these three concrete examples of medical technology within maternal and child health, this thesis shows that context matters in how medical technology operates and is operated within the clinical space. This awareness of medical technology in context pushes for a change in international politics and ideologies surrounding global health.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1794/25067
dc.language.isoen_US
dc.publisherUniversity of Oregon
dc.rightsCreative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0-US
dc.subjectHuman Physiologyen_US
dc.subjectEthnographyen_US
dc.subjectGlobal Healthen_US
dc.subjectGhanaen_US
dc.subjectMedical Technologyen_US
dc.subjectAfricaen_US
dc.titleMedical Technology in Context: Maternal and Child Health Technology at Ghana's Cape Coast Teaching Hospital
dc.typeThesis/Dissertation

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