Description
This article explores the activities of Brazilian public health experiences in transnational epistemic communities during the Cold War, particularly between 1955 and 1967, by focusing on a milestone event promoted by the World Health Organization (WHO): the Malaria Eradication Program (MEP), launched in 1955. This event mobilized experts with multiple conceptions of health and development, who engaged in the international debate. These specialists did not remain passive during the implementation processes of international cooperation projects of health and questioned methods and premises of these programs. Brazil had renowned technicians with previous experiences in dealing with the disease who mostly advocated for methods of control, instead of eradication. This article focuses particularly on the effects of the propositions of Brazilian expert Mario Pinotti and his associates in the scientific community and on their implementation by the WHO in several countries in the 1960s. Much ink has been spilled about how Cold War technocratic approach of WHO eradication programs, conceived by Western elites, was deemed to fail. Instead of focusing on narratives of failure, this article delves into the networks of experts, acting from the so-called “Third World” in the scope of the program. By focusing on the “circulation of the Pinotti method”, this article contributes to unfolding mechanisms involved in networks of knowledge. It also sheds light on the limitations, the potentialities, the local and international impacts of transnational non-State actors from the so-called "Third World" in the networks of knowledge. Finally, it highlights hierarchies within international aid communities and how knowledge could also flow in different directions despite the limitations imposed by East-West Cold War dichotomy. This article is based on primary sources collected in Brazilian and WHO Archives.
