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Thesis ID: CBB001567391

Constructing International Health: The Communicable Disease Center, Field Epidemiologists and the Politics of Foreign Assistance (1948--1972) (2012)

McGill University (Canada)
McGill University
Schlich, Thomas
Publication date: 2012
Language: English

ISBN: 9780494790434

Publication Date: 2012
Edition Details: Advisor: Schlich, Thomas.
Physical Details: 379 pp.

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Epidemiology Prevention and control of disease Developing countries Public health Infectious diseases International cooperation Communicable diseases Cross-national interaction 20th century United States

Following World War II, new institutions were created to manage international health issues and assist developing nations in addressing their public health problems. Bilateral aid agencies and multilateral organizations designed, promoted, financed and implemented various programs to alleviate the burden of disease in the Third World, but also pursued political goals. In this dissertation, I analyze the development of international health activities of the Communicable Disease Center (CDC) from 1948 to 1972, from the first overseas assignment of a CDC officer until the end of major global public health campaigns at the beginning of the 1970s. My focus is on the role and motivations of CDC leaders and field epidemiologists who aimed and worked to transform the public health agency from a marginal international player into an important actor in the institutional constellation. In extending activities from the U.S. to the international arena, the CDC, as a national health agency, faced legal and political obstacles which limited its access to foreign localities where international health programs were being implemented. I argue that if expertise in field epidemiology existed in Atlanta and CDC leaders expressed a desire to see their agency take a more prominent role, the deployment of CDC personnel overseas remained problematic. To circumvent these obstacles, the CDC utilized development agencies, public health technologies and multilateral health organization as conduits to get access to foreign environments, procure international field experience to its epidemiologists and make an impact on the control of infectious diseases. As I show, it was especially during the 1960s that these three trajectories coalesced to ensure CDC's place as a public health actor of international reach and contributed in establishing its credibility. The exploration of the CDC's relationships with these international health actors and technologies also demonstrates the tensions deriving from the arrival of a new actor of international health, the limits of expertise when opposed by political considerations and the various tactics employed to secure a role in the design, implementation and management of public health programs abroad.

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Description Cited in Dissertation Abstracts International-A 74/04(E), Oct 2013. Proquest Document ID: 1243553946.

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