%0 Journal Article
%9 ACL : Articles dans des revues avec comité de lecture non répertoriées par l'AERES
%A Werner, Jean-François
%T "The prince and the magic magnet" : an ethnographic tale of technology, power and health in Africa
%B Mythes sociotechniques et développement
%D 2017
%E Venot, Jean-Philippe
%E Veldwisch, G.J.
%L fdi:010071782
%G ENG
%J Anthropologie et Développement
%@ 2276-2019
%K HOPITAL ; TRANSFERT DE TECHNOLOGIE
%K IMAGE A RESONANCE MAGNETIQUE ; IRM ; IMAGERIE MEDICALE ; ETHNOGRAPHIE ; RELATION SOIGNANT SOIGNE
%K AFRIQUE DE L'OUEST ; SENEGAL ; DAKAR
%P 49-66
%R 10.4000/anthropodev.620
%U https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010071782
%> https://horizon.documentation.ird.fr/exl-doc/pleins_textes/2023-06/010071782.pdf
%V 46-47
%W Horizon (IRD)
%X Under the guise of an ethnographic tale, the author tells us a story in which political power, technology and health were closely linked together at the turn of the 21st century in a small poor African country. At the heart of this story is an advanced medical imaging technology called Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), which was introduced into the country by the will of the Prince who was then in power. In so doing, he was taking for granted the collective belief that making patients’ bodies more transparent necessarily improves the quality of health care and saves money. But this story proves that it was not the case. From a financial point of view, the State did not save money and, from a medical standpoint, most of the population was unable to benefit from this technological breakthrough because of the excessive cost of MRI examinations. On the contrary, the introduction of this sophisticated technology highlighted the weaknesses of the health care system and further increased inequalities in access to health care facilities. The moral of this story is that the current belief that technology is the key to social and economic development is so deeply rooted in the collective imaginary that it is very difficult to escape its power of attraction.
%$ 106 ; 116 ; 050 ; 056