State of Health: Pleasure and Politics in Venezuelan Health Care under Chávez

by Amy Cooper

State of Health takes readers inside one of the most controversial regimes of the twenty-first century—Venezuela under Hugo Chávez—for a revealing description of how people’s lives changed for the better as the state began reorganizing society. With lively and accessible storytelling, Amy Cooper chronicles the pleasure people experienced accessing government health care and improving their quality of life. From personalized doctor’s visits to therapeutic dance classes, new health care programs provided more than medical services.  State of Health  offers a unique perspective on the significance of the Bolivarian Revolution for ordinary people, demonstrating how the transformed health system succeeded in exciting people and recognizing historically marginalized Venezuelans as bodies who mattered.

210 pages, Hardcover

Published April 2, 2019

Reviews

[Emily McParland · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this book gave me a whole new perspective on medicine and policy in our world today. I am encouraged as an aspiring physician to enter the medical field where patients can find pleasure through medicine. I am inspired by the positivity that Cooper found in the healthcare of the neighborhoods of Caracas. It was refreshing to read a story like Cooper’s that gives us hope in the future of medicine. Very good book! I will be recommending this to my friends and family!

[Booknatic · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fantastic book!
The writing style is easy to follow and entraining, as well as the many vignettes.
The concept was simplified for the general public to understand and enjoy.
Overall a great reading ideal to spark debates around the healthcare system.

[Justin Delacour · Rating 1 out of 5]

What I disliked about this book is that it completely elides the question of how Venezuela’s healthcare system actually performed under Chavez. Cooper never bothers to compare Venezuela’s social indicators to those of other Latin American countries in the period. Once you compare Venezuela’s life expectancy data across time to those of other countries in the region, what you find is that Venezuela’s healthcare system seems to have performed quite poorly under Chavez. While Cooper presents Venezuela’s Barrio Adentro healthcare program as empowering to citizens, the data seems to tell a different story. While Venezuelan life expectancy climbed slightly under Chavez, it rose so little that Venezuela’s international life expectancy ranking fell significantly. Most if not all other Latin American countries performed better at raising life expectancy in the same period, according to the UN data. As a former sympathizer of Chavez, it pains me to say this, but the fact of the matter is that Chavismo achieved none of the healthcare successes of other left and left-populist projects (such as Cuba’s and Panama’s under Torrijos).

Cooper also seems to celebrate policies that wouldn’t strike me as advisable at all. For example, she celebrates the fact that Barrio Adentro clinics kept no medical records on patients and allowed them to go to whichever clinics they pleased, however frequently they pleased. For Cooper, such policies made Venezuela’s healthcare system more empowering for citizens than Cuba’s. Shouldn’t it be obvious, though, that keeping no records on patients would render a healthcare system less efficient at treating patients properly? To my way of thinking, there’s nothing particularly empowering about a mismanaged healthcare system that doesn’t perform well at keeping people alive and healthy.

There are other problems with the study too. Cooper celebrates the fact that the Barrio Adentro program housed doctors in the poor communities where they worked. She never considers whether that would be a sustainable model, especially in a country with such high rates of violence in poor barrios. Is it any surprise that so many doctors apparently abandoned the communities where they were originally posted?

In sum, what disappointed me about this book is that it never addresses the question of how the Venezuelan healthcare system could have been managed in such a way as to better tend to people’s healthcare needs.

[Caroline tieman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a great refresh from reading darker anthropological texts. The focus on what medicine does well isn't common, and Cooper writes about it in an easy-to-read, delightful way. She presents all her points in the introduction chapter and delves into each in higher detail in later chapters, so you know exactly what you're reading about from the get-go. This did lead to it at times feeling repetitive, but the organization and ease of understanding made up for this. I especially love the caveat Cooper adds that this research was done at least a decade ago and may not hold true to the current state of Venezuela but is still important for understanding their political and medical climate.

[Janelle Athans · Rating 5 out of 5]

As someone who is looking to advance their education in the medical field, this book is very knowledgable while staying interesting. It gives a different perspective to socialism that I had not previously thought about. The United States can learn a lot from the findings in this book about how to treat societies and how to improve health care. Similarly, health practitioners can learn a lot about how patients want to be treated and what is desired during those doctor-patient interactions. I recommend this book for those looking for a good read or anyone who wants a job in the healthcare field.

[Sophia Bahad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gave me a new perspective on “community health” and “wellbeing.” Not a far off concept. Venezuela had a remarkable system, and it took a village to maintain it. People had to be actively part of their own health, not just passive patients. “Health” went beyond physical wellbeing, affecting the social aspects of life. Proof that community wellness can be better prioritized in our own country.

[Francelia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a super interesting read. The vignettes work beautifully in telling the story and emphasizing Dr. Cooper's main ideas. The themes were some I never would've thought of when reading about health care and politics. It makes for great discussions in all aspects of life.