The uses of disorder in negotiated information orders: information leveraging and changing norms in global public health governance.

The SARS epidemic that broke out in late 2002 in China's Guangdong Province highlighted the difficulties of reliance on state-provided information when states have incentives to conceal discrediting information about public health threats. Using SARS and the International Health Regulations (IHR) as a starting point, this article examines negotiated information orders in global public health governance and the irregularities in the supply of data that underlie them. Negotiated information orders within and among the organizations in a field (here, e.

Social Experiences of Women with Obstetric Fistula Seeking Treatment in Kampala, Uganda.

Background: Obstetric fistula is a preventable and treatable condition predominately affecting women in low-income countries. Understanding the social context of obstetric fistula may lead to improved prevention and treatment.

Objectives: This study investigated social experiences of women with obstetric fistula seeking treatment at Mulago Hospital in Kampala, Uganda.

'Wicked' ethics: Compliance work and the practice of ethics in HIV research.

Using ethnographic material collected between 2003 and 2007 in five HIV clinics in the US, South Africa, Uganda, and Thailand, this article examines "official ethics" and "ethics on the ground." It compares the ethical conundrums clinic staff and researchers confront in their daily work as HIV researchers with the dilemmas officially identified as ethical issues by bioethicists and people responsible for ethics reviews and compliance with ethics regulations. The tangled relation between ethical problems and solutions invites a comparison to Rittel and Webber's "wicked problems.

Extending the rails: how research reshapes clinics.

The purpose of clinical research is to create the scientific foundation for medical practice. In this way of thinking, the effect on medical practice occurs after the research has been completed. Social studies of science have debunked the standard model of scientific research, observing that changes in practice associated with research occur not just because of the results of research but also because of the practice of research.