Metrics: What Counts in Global Health (Critical Global Health: Evidence, Efficacy, Ethnography)

If RCTs and Daly gave you a pause, read this book. If you just want to make yourself happily believe that more technology and knowledge will simply make a better world, don't read it. Legible and very thoughtful, wonderful book. The writing is very clear and full of examples. How certain form of knowledge produces its own regime and how the changed notion of life allows for the new reading of things that are seemlingly the same are very well explained.

Strangely cynical take on the pursuit of evidence-based public health. The author comes across as almost anti-science and might have a personal vendetta against the leaders of this field. I gave 2 stars instead of 1 because there certainly is some interesting and insightful discussion in this book, for example regarding conflict between national sovereignty and international research.

insider language makes this book unpalatable and unreadable. I got the editor’s point: Metrics to not tell the whole story. Anecdotes, testimonies, and relationships add perspective and enlightenment to various factors in health and illness statistics. Be careful to track the variables that actually reflect real life problems, improvement and the day to day process.

I have been working for a long time as responsible for public health programs and I was for a while in subsaharian Africa for an international health project. As soon as I started reading this book I thought I had found an enemy. Metrics are so relevant in my work, I desperately need figures to understand what is going on. Fortunately I kept reading. This is thought provoking, deep, unconfortable, strong, and very interesting book. It helps you in intended and unintended ways, it reminds you objectivity and truth are veri conditional concepts. I found not an enemy but a critical friend