East African Doctors
A History of the Modern Profession

This 1998 book is a history of Africans as modern doctors based on extensive research in East Africa.

John Iliffe (Author)

9780521632720, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 27 August 1998

354 pages, 1 map
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.1 cm, 0.64 kg

'East African Doctors, by John Iliffe, is interesting, sensitive and generous towards its subjects and also raises questions, which may, with luck, stimulate further studies of this neglected topic.' The Times Literary Supplement

John Iliffe's 1998 book is a history of the African medical profession in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania from the earliest training of modern medical staff in the 1870s to the present day. Based on extensive research, and dealing exclusively with African doctors, it offers an understanding of professionalisation in the Third World. It describes the recruitment and education of doctors, their understanding and practice of modern medicine, the struggle for international recognition of their qualifications and efforts to develop East African medical systems after independence, and their experiences during a period of political and economic difficulty. The book ends with an account of the significant work of East African doctors in the study and control of AIDS. This is a major contribution to the social history of Africa and to the social history of medicine more broadly.

1. The argument
2. Pioneers
3. The age of the tribal dresser
4. Makerere and its students, 1923–49
5. The pursuit of professional status
6. The transfer of power
7. Uganda: doctors and a disintegrating state
8. Kenya: doctors and a capitalist transition
9. Tanzania: doctors and a socialist experiment
10. AIDS
11. Conclusion.

Subject Areas: 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000 [HBLW], African history [HBJH]