Epidemics and the Military: Responding to COVID-19 in Uganda

被引:11
|
作者
Parker, Melissa [1 ]
Baluku, Moses [2 ]
Ozunga, Bono E. [3 ]
Okello, Bob [2 ]
Kermundu, Peter [2 ]
Akello, Grace [2 ]
MacGregor, Hayley [4 ]
Leach, Melissa [4 ]
Allen, Tim [5 ]
机构
[1] London Sch Hyg & Trop Med, London WC1H 9SH, England
[2] Gulu Univ, Gulu, Uganda
[3] Minist Hlth, Vector Control Div, Mayuge, Uganda
[4] Univ Sussex, Inst Dev Studies, Brighton BN1 9RE, England
[5] London Sch Econ & Polit Sci, Houghton St, London WC2A 2AE, England
基金
英国经济与社会研究理事会; 英国惠康基金;
关键词
COVID-19; Epidemics; Militarisation; Public authority; Uganda; Public health security; AIDS; SCHISTOSOMIASIS; SECURITY; DISEASES;
D O I
10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.115482
中图分类号
R1 [预防医学、卫生学];
学科分类号
1004 ; 120402 ;
摘要
The UN Security Council's response to Ebola in 2014 legitimised militarised responses. It also influenced re-sponses to COVID-19 in some African countries. Yet, little is known about the day-to-day impacts for ordinary citizens of mobilising armies for epidemic control. Drawing on 18 months ethnographic research, this article analyses militarised responses to COVID-19 during, and following, two lockdowns at contrasting sites in Uganda: a small town in Pakwach district and a village in Kasese district. Both field sites lie close to the border of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Although the practice of health security varied between sites, the militarised response had more impact than the disease in these two places. The armed forces scaled back movement from urban conurbations to rural and peri-urban areas; while simultaneously enabling locally based official public authorities to use the proclaimed priorities of President Museveni's government to enhance their position and power. This led to a situation whereby inhabitants created new modes of mutuality to resist or subvert the regulations being enforced, including the establishment of new forms of cross-border movement. These findings problematise the widely held view that Uganda's response to COVID-19 was successful. Overall, it is argued that the on-going securitisation of global health has helped to create the political space to militarise the response. While this has had unknown effects on the prevalence of COVID-19, it has entrenched unaccountable modes of public authority and created a heightened sense of insecurity on the ground. The tendency to condone the violent practice of militarised public health programmes by international and national actors reflects a broader shift in the acceptance of more authoritarian forms of governance.
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页数:9
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