HUMANIZING MEDICINE

A call to change and improve medical systems in developing nations.

Jiwani, a physician who’s spent much of his career with the Aga Khan Development Network, presents a debut book that starts out as a doctor’s memoir and ends up focusing on his promotion of the importance of family medicine and primary care in less affluent countries. Most of Jiwani’s work, as described in these pages, has been about developing medical systems in a way that advances the latest in medical knowledge with necessary cultural sensitivity. He also writes about the AKDN and its constituent organizations, which have made multiple medical, educational, and other institutions possible throughout the developing world. Along the way, he increases awareness of the AKDN as an underrecognized force for good—a nongovernmental organization emerging from the Shia Ismaili Muslim sect, dedicated to improving people’s lives on a nonsectarian basis throughout Africa and Asia. Jiwani thus spends a great deal of time tracking parallels between his career and the development of AKDN–sponsored institutions in Pakistan, Tanzania, Uganda, and elsewhere; along the way, he offers accounts of his work as a private physician and medical-school faculty member at the University of British Columbia. This book has a compelling theme, but the author’s style isn’t consistently engaging; readers may sometimes feel lost among all the organizational descriptions. Jiwani’s prose can get technical, making it challenging for lay readers unfamiliar with complex medical infrastructures. He provides some moving descriptions of working with patients in these developing countries, including a story of a Pakistani child afflicted with polio: “I found that the child had indeed been moved to the ICU overnight. I found her awake; her large, wide, beautiful grey eyes were quite serene.” Some of his best anecdotes are about personal engagement that doesn’t have to do with his main work with the AKDN, such as serving as a passenger ship’s doctor. There’s also a helpful glossary in the back of the book along with maps of where the author has worked with AKDN institutions.

An earnest but often dense work on international health care.