April 2016
Marcos Cueto and Steven Palmer
Medicine and Public Health in Latin America: A History, written by Marcos Cueto, scientific editor of HCSM, and Steven Palmer, of the University of Windsor (Canada) and member of theScientific editorial council of HCSM ; published last year by Cambridge University Press, has been declared the winner of the best book prize by the Health, Science, and Technology section of the Latin American Studies Association (LASA).
Cueto and Palmer will receive the award at the XXXIV International Congress of the Latin American Studies Association that will take place in New York City on May 29-30, 2016. The Portuguese version of the book will be published by Editora Fiocruz
The book award committee noted that “Cueto and Palmer’s book is a remarkable contribution to the field, providing the first comprehensive historical survey of medicine and public health in Latin America from the pre-Columbian era to the present”. The book summarizes the social history of health in Latin America. It begins with the contact between indigenous African American and European medicine in what was the colonial era for most countries, from the early sixteen to the early nineteen centuries.
Cueto and Palmer also follow the Latin American changes in the first half of the twentieth century, which were part of an interaction process with the work of international agencies such as the Rockefeller Foundation. The authors, then, present the region in the context of Cold War, when health programs were implemented with the expectation of eradicating diseases.
The Portuguese version will be published by Editora Fiocruz.
Finally, it deals with the neoliberal agenda that dictated the rules in the 80s with a restrictive idea of health in terms of cost- effectiveness.
Other important prizes awarded by the section are:
Article award: Stefan Pohl-Valero, “’La Raza Entra por la Boca:’ Energy, Diet, and Eugenics in Colombia, 1890-1940,” Hispanic American Historical Review 94:3 (2014): 455-486.
Dissertation award: Kathryn Gallien, “Delivering the Nation, Raising the State: The Politics of Race and Gender in Bolivia’s Obstetric Movement, 1900-1982,” (History, U. of Arizona).
See the articles written by Marcos Cueto and Steven Palmer in HCSM:
Cueto, Marcos. Imágenes de la salud, la enfermedad y el desarrollo: fotografías de la Fundación Rockefeller en Latinoamérica. Hist. cienc. saude-Manguinhos, Feb 1999, vol.5, no.3, p.679-704. ISSN 0104-5970
Hochman, Gilberto and Palmer, Steven. Smallpox eradication and Brazil: an interview with Donald A. Henderson. Hist. cienc. saude-Manguinhos, 2010, vol.17, no.3, p.759-775. ISSN 0104-5970
Palmer, Steven. O Demônio que se transformou em vermes”: a tradução da saúde pública no Caribe Britânico, 1914-1920. Hist. cienc. saude-Manguinhos, Set 2006, vol.13, no.3, p.571-589. ISSN 0104-5970
Cueto, Marcos. La “cultura de la sobrevivencia” y la salud pública internacional en América Latina: la Guerra Fría y la erradicación de enfermedades a mediados del siglo XX. Hist. cienc. saude-Manguinhos, Mar 2015, vol.22, no.1, p.255-273. ISSN 0104-5970
Brown, Theodore M., Cueto, Marcos and Fee, Elizabeth. A transição de saúde pública ‘internacional’ para ‘global’ e a Organização Mundial da Saúde. Hist. cienc. saude-Manguinhos, Set 2006, vol.13, no.3, p.623-647. ISSN 0104-5970
