Dynamics of an International Islamic FBO’s Healthcare Interventions during COVID-19: An Ethnographic Case Study of Direct Aid in Urban Tanzania
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Abstract
Despite changing COVID-19 policies and political leaders in Tanzania during the pandemic, Direct Aid (formerly Africa Muslims Agency), a Kuwaiti charitable organization, enhanced healthcare services while adapting safe measures. This ethnographic study explores the dynamics of Direct Aid’s healthcare interventions in the context of COVID-19 in urban Dar es Salaam. Since 2020, the international charity received additional Gulf funding to distribute soap, sanitizer, and personal protective equipment (PPE) to its centers, aid recipients, and government offices. This article examines how Islamic ideas, practices, and meanings are crucial to the design and execution of Direct Aid programs while intertwined with constantly changing public health dynamics in Tanzania. We argue that the interventions of the faith-based organization (FBO), including collaborations with Tanzania’s Ministry of Health, are designed to help bridge inequities and gaps in healthcare access. Yet Direct Aid’s contributions to local and national health plans—a form of transnational humanitarian governmentality—simultaneously strengthen its social, religious, and political agenda in Tanzania.
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