Rural endemic diseases, health and development: Emmanuel Dias and the construction of a network of allies against Chagas disease/ Endemias rurais, saude e desenvolvimento: Emmanuel Dias e a construcao de uma rede de aliados contra a doenca de Chagas

• Published in: Ciência & saude coletiva Vol. 21; no. 11; p. 3621
• Main Author: Kropf, Simone Petraglia
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Spanish
• Published: Associacao Brasileira de Pos-Graduacao em Saude Coletiva - ABRASCO 01.11.2016
• Subjects: Brasil
• ISSN: 1413-8123
• DOI: 10.1590/1413-812320152111.00612016

The scope of this article is to analyze the trajectory of Emmanuel Dias (1908-1962), a researcher at the Oswaldo Cruz Institute (OCI) and director of the Center for Studies and Prophylaxis of Chagas Disease (OCI outpost established in 1943 in the city of Bambui, Minas Gerais), as a key actor in the acknowledgement of Chagas disease as a public health problem in Brazil and the Americas. It seeks to show that the conquest of this acknowledgement, the cornerstone of which was the staging of the first campaign to combat the disease in Brazil in 1950, was made possible by the intense political mobilization of Dias together with the various social groups, such as physicians, politicians and residents of rural areas, public health officials, governments and international organizations. This mobilization occurred during the 1940s and 1950s in a historical context marked by intense debate about the relationship between health and development and helped to construct a network of alliances that was critical for the recognition of Chagas disease as a chronic cardiopathy, which threatened the productivity of rural workers and represented a medical and social problem that merited public health actions and programs geared to get it under control. Key words Emmanuel Dias, Endemic rural diseases, History of health, Development, Chagas disease O objetivo deste artigo e analisar a atuacao de Emmanuel Dias (1908-1962), pesquisador do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz (IOC) e diretor do Centro de Estudos e Profilaxia da Molestia de Chagas (posto do IOC criado em 1943 na cidade de Bambui, Minas Gerais), como ator decisivo no processo de reconhecimento da doenca de Chagas como problema de saude publica no Brasil e no continente americano. Busca-se evidenciar que a conquista deste reconhecimento, que teve como marco fundamental a realizacao da primeira campanha de combate a enfermidade no Brasil em 1950, foi viabilizada pela intensa mobilizacao politica de Dias junto a diversos grupos sociais, como medicos, politicos e moradores das areas rurais, profissionais dos servicos publicos de saude, governos e associacoes internacionais. Tal mobilizacao, ao longo das decadas de 1940 e 1950, num contexto historico marcado por intensos debates sobre as relacoes entre saude e desenvolvimento, levou a construcao de uma rede de apoios decisiva para que a doenca, caracterizada como cardiopatia cronica a ameacar a produtividade do trabalhador rural, fosse considerada um problema medico-social a merecer acoes e programas de saude publica voltados para seu controle. Palavras-chave Emmanuel Dias, Endemias rurais, Historia da saude, Desenvolvimento, Doenca de Chagas