AO: Tichenor notes that data collection takes many forms. Diagnostic data are the skeleton upon which a representation of malaria in Senegal is estimated. The data that stand in for Senegal from the global malaria perspective are based on approximate diagnoses performed by nurses, physicians, and laboratory technicians and involves a process of “filling out” data that raises questions about data ownership, utility, and representativeness.
AO: Tichnor notes the multiple challenges with defining malaria, including the changing standards (between clinical reporting of Malaria to microscophy testing in 2008); experiences of different malarias; continued ambiguity in diagnostic method. These lead to very rough “approximations” that Tichenor argues is a key part of mapping global boundaries of malaria.
AO: “The data the Ministry demands from health workers do not represent, by design, the local realities.” (444)
