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Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences Advance Access originally published online on September 23, 2008
Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences 2009 64(1):78-122; doi:10.1093/jhmas/jrn057
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© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

"God Bless General Perón": DDT and the Endgame of Malaria Eradication in Argentina in the 1940s

Eric D. Carter*

Correspondence: * Anthropology Department, 1118 Park St., Grinnell College, Grinnell, Iowa 50112. Email: cartered{at}grinnell.edu.


  Abstract

This article explores the politics of malaria eradication in Argentina during the first government of Juan D. Perón. The article develops the theme of historical convergence to understand the rapid mobilization and success of the climactic battle against malaria in Northwest Argentina. The nearly complete eradication of malaria in Argentina resulted from a combination of three factors. First, Carlos Alvarado, the director of Argentina's Malaria Service, had already developed a solid but flexible organizational base that allowed a dramatic change in control strategy. Second, an infusion of new technologies, especially DDT but also motor vehicles, was instrumental. Lastly, a radical reorientation of national public health policy in the 1940s, under the direction of Perón and his health minister, Ramón Carrillo, encouraged eradication. These figures embraced and refashioned long-standing organicist ideologies that hitched the strength of the nation-state to the health and vigor of its ordinary citizens. This ideological orientation was reflected in bold, populist political strategies that showcased swift, massive, and expensive public health campaigns, including malaria eradication. In the conclusion, the article explores the ambiguous connections between malaria eradication and an ecological perspective on the disease.

Key Words: malaria • Argentina • DDT • eradication • ecology • public health

This research was supported by a National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Award (BCS-0117381), and grants from the Rockefeller Archive Center in New York, the UW-Madison LACIS Program, and the UW-Madison International Institute. Portions of this article were presented at the First Biennial Conference of the International EcoHealth Association in Madison, Wisconsin, October 2006. Special thanks to Marcos Cueto, Karina Ramacciotti, and Neela Nandyal for insightful comments on earlier drafts of this work. Any errors of fact or interpretation are mine alone.


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