It's really frustrating that of all the things happening in #Uganda right now, the @NewYorker choose to devote a magazine spread to Renée Bach: "A missionary on trial: Renée Bach went to Uganda to save children—but many in her care died. Was she responsible?" (1)

Bach had no medical experience. She set up a medical malnutrition clinic anyway, and btw 2010-2015, 105 children died there (for some reason the New Yorker article just says "over 100".) She is now being sued by @womenprobono (2)

The article starts with a graphic description of a child who is malnourished and will likely die. It then moves around from the vague "southeastern Uganda" to the more specific Bedford, Virginia, to tell Bach's side of the story. (3)

The story of Bach's illegal clinic was already widely reported in the American media in 2019 (as the New Yorker story notes). Now this profile appears to try to "weigh in" on whether Bach was right or wrong. (4)

In doing so, it paints malnutrition as an intractable problem in Uganda. For example: (5)

"In world-class pediatric intensive-care units, physicians closely monitor patients’ electrolyte levels and adjust treatment accordingly. Bach, of course, could not provide anywhere near that level of care. But neither could the hospitals that were calling her to take patients."

There are many approaches to treating malnutrition that don't rely on world-class pediatric intensive-care units. (7)

It then later questions (based on two interviews - one with a doctor at Harvard - presumably American but nationality not mentioned - and another with a "Kenyan "researcher" ) the idea that Bach's interventions caused harm. (8)

Strangely, they are quoted as experts without their names being given, making it impossible to assess their qualifications to give a medical opinion. (9)

Later, the author visits the Jinja police station, & is told she needs to pay a fee at a bank and bring the receipt to get a copy of the initial criminal report against Bach.
"I didn’t have time to go to the bank; I had another meeting planned," writes the author. (10)

Near the end, the piece attempts to explain malnutrition in Uganda. "Some people simply have never heard of malnutrition: their children get sick, and they have no idea why." What's not mentioned: Museveni. history of aid in Uganda. conflict & forced displacement. (11)

I'd love to read instead: a profile of @PrimahKwagala, the attorney who founded the Women’s Probono Initiative, and is only briefly quoted in the piece. cc @africasacountry @theelephantinfo (11)

I'd also love if American media stopped reporting stories about aid, missionary work and so-called humanitarian interventions as though they occur in a political and ahistorical vacuum.