Structural Violence, Globalization, and Multidrug-Resistant Tuberculosis
More than fifty years after the introduction of chemotherapy for the treatment of tuber-culosis, two million people die each year of this disease and 8.4 millions become infected. Among curable infectious diseases, tuberculosis, including its multidrug-resistant forms, is the one which creates more victims. Why are the drugs that could stop or slow down these epidemics not available in the places where they are needed most? To address this question, we explore the life experience of a Haitian family and the social contexts in which people become infected, fall ill, and live a series of therapeutical adventures that lead to increased complications, a growing transmission to other people and, too often, death. We also analyze how these trajec-tories are the result of structural violence and of social inequalities exacerbated by the globalization process.