Medical sovereignty in Eritrea: Reducing maternal mortality and challenging global health humanitarianism in Africa.

Abstract

This article examines how Eritrea's realization of Millennium Development Goal 5 (the reduction of maternal mortality) reveals the complex workings of medical sovereignty in sub-Saharan Africa. Through the case study of Eritrea, I demonstrate how postcolonial African countries might approach structuring their healthcare systems to navigate-and challenge-the neoliberal contours of global health humanitarianism. By analyzing both Eritrea's colonial history and the liberation-era history of medicine alongside contemporary healthcare policymaking, I trace how racial and gender dynamics shape the reduction of maternal mortality and the pursuit of medical sovereignty more broadly. To engage in this pursuit, African states must negotiate the tensions between autonomous healthcare development and the political constraints of global health humanitarianism.