Nurturing compassion through care-giving and care-receiving: the changing moral economy of AIDs in China

Abstract

Based on the case study of an Aids clinic operated in Nanning by MSF, this paper looks at how one international NGO, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF, or Doctors Without Borders), deals with the HIV-carrier patients in Nanning, the capital of Guangxi province in China. It explores the process of care-giving to the HIV patients by MSF employees (both foreign and local) and how the patients react to the 'care-receiving' provided by this foreign NGO. This is especially pertinent in China today as HIV-patients are the victims of discriminating policies and are still very much discriminated by the general population. MSF, viewed by the victims as a foreign NGO, is regarded as an organization seen as promoting a changing and compassionate attitude toward AIDs patients through their anonymous and non-discriminating practices. Through the practices and the discourse of MSF workers and the testimonies of the patients, this paper looks at how the moral economy of AIDs is evolving from a repressive and discriminative attitude towards the compassionate attention to individual suffering. As such, MSF, through its actions, is seen as one of the agents promoting attitudinal changes toward disadvantaged groups and is facilitating the emergence of an emotional and compassionate subject.

Biases in low‐information environments: Understanding for‐profit and non‐profit salary differentials in Haiti

“…We have used this article to evaluate alternative explanations for salary differentials in low-information environments. Practitioners and analysts generally acknowledge that in developing countries, INGOs pay salary premiums that disrupt local labour markets and sometimes lead governments to enact policy that limits organisational autonomy (Cailhol et al, 2013;DeMattee, 2019aDeMattee, , 2019bDeMattee, , 2020Huff-Rousselle & Pickering, 2001;Kuah-Pearce & Guiheux, 2014;Lemay-Hébert et al, 2020;Pfeiffer, 2003). While it may be true that INGOs' salaries disrupt local labour markets, a lack of reliable information limits our ability to understand why such salary differentials exist.…”

“…Empirical evidence from East Asia (Barr et al, 2005; Huff‐Rousselle & Pickering, 2001; Kuah‐Pearce & Guiheux, 2014) and Sub‐Saharan Africa (Cailhol et al, 2013; Pfeiffer, 2003; Warne Peters, 2013) suggests that INGOs pay significant premiums over other employers in developing countries. In the ‘Republic of NGOs’ (Fass, 1988, pp.…”

“…Once employees possess the necessary skills, they are ‘attracted away—in a ‘brain drain’ phenomenon’ by INGOs who ‘offer better salaries and fringe benefits’ (Huff‐Rousselle & Pickering, 2001, p. 44). Similarly, interviews with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) staff in China show that salary—alongside the English‐language environment and the opportunity to earn new skills—was a key reason for joining MSF and increased their salary overnight by 30–100 per cent (Kuah‐Pearce & Guiheux, 2014).…”

“…A standard critique in developing countries is that employees at international non‐governmental organisations (INGOs) get paid more than equally qualified individuals employed by governments (Cailhol et al, 2013; Kuah‐Pearce & Guiheux, 2014; Lemay‐Hébert et al, 2020; Warne Peters, 2013; Zanotti, 2010). Yet there is little discussion given to how INGOs' salaries compare to other private employers—such as local NGOs and international businesses—that provide livelihoods, services and tax revenue.…”

The moralization of philanthropy in China: NGOs, voluntarism, and the reconfiguration of social responsibility

“… 35. Khun Eng Kuah-Pearce and Gilles Guiheux, Nurturing compassion through care-giving and care-receiving: The changing moral economy of AIDs in China, Anthropology & Medicine 21(1), 2014: 71–86. …”