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"Who is Nursing Them? It Is Us.”: Neoliberalism, HIV/AIDS and the Occupational Health and Safety of South African Public Sector Nurses
Jennifer R. Zelnick
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Work, Health and Environment Series, Series Editors, Charles Levenstein, Robert Forrant, and John Wooding
This book is still in production-order now at the pre-publication price and save!
IN PRAISE OF
"Neoliberal policies including privatization in the United States have resulted in cuts in public services, the brunt of which have fallen heavily on the poor but also the caregivers on who they depend for needed services everyday. Zelnick shows that neoliberalism is not limited to one county. Her carefully researched book reveals that South Africa's neglect of public services combined with a devastating HIV epidemic has created a 'double jeopardy'—reminding us that the service cuts for the poor often translate into speed up or job loss for those who provide the care. This important and readable book contributes to the growing body of evidence that demands reinvestment in the public good."
—Mimi Abramovitz, DSW, Bertha Capen Reynolds Professor of Social Policy, Hunter College School of Social Work and The Graduate Center, City University of New York
ABOUT THE BOOK
This book explores the impacts of HIV/AIDS and neoliberal globalization on the occupational health of public sector hospital nurses in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, where HIV/AIDS prevalence is among the highest in the world. Just before the epidemic took off in the mid-1990s, South Africa achieved independence from apartheid/colonial rule, raising hopes that conditions would improve for the poor. HIV/AIDS, and a turn toward neoliberal policy, hindered this process. The story of South African public sector nurses provides multiple perspectives on the HIV/AIDS epidemic—for a workforce that played a role in the struggle against apartheid, women who deal with the burden of HIV/AIDS care at work and in the community, and a constituency of the new South African democracy that is working on the frontlines of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
Through case studies of three provincial hospitals in KwaZulu-Natal, set against a historical backdrop, this book tells the story of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the post-apartheid period. Nurses and hospital managers describe significantly different settings—from a historically neglected rural district hospital to a high-tech, high-level care facility operating as a private-public partnership. Despite the disparities, nurses' occupational health dilemmas were largely the same. While neoliberal policies led to disinvestment and privatization that created workplace inequalities among public sector nurses (though all were low paid), stigma and denial about HIV/AIDS consistently hindered workplace health and safety programs. Even so, nurses and public health managers make a strong case about what is needed to support the South African public health system and the people who rely on it. In so doing they point the way toward a labor/work environment approach to a global public health crisis.
Intended Audience: Academics in public health, occupational health and safety, labor and nursing history, and public policy; readers interested in the global HIV/AIDS epidemic and health systems development.
ABOUT THE EDITOR
Jennifer Zelnick, M.S.W., Sc.D., is an assistant professor of social work at Salem State College. She worked as a social worker and an organizer for the Service Employees International Union and the Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals, AFT, before obtaining a doctoral degree in work environment policy from the University of Massachusetts Lowell. Her research and practice interests include working conditions in health and social service industries, public policy, community organizing, and environmental health. She lives with her husband, Max O'Donnell, and three children, Lula, Maeve, and Liam, in Cambridge, MA.
Please Note: For a limited time, this book is available at the pre-publication price of $39.05 + p&h. List price is $45.95 + p&h.
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