Cold War, Deadly Fevers: Malaria Eradication in Mexico, 1955-1975 (Woodrow Wilson Center Press) [Hardcover]

Marcos Cueto (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 4, 2007 | ISBN-10: 0801886457 | ISBN-13: 978-0801886454 | Edition: 1

In the mid-1950s, with planning and funding from the United States, Mexico embarked on an ambitious campaign to eradicate malaria, which was widespread and persistent. This new history explores the politics of that campaign. Marcos Cueto describes the international basis of the program, its national organization in Mexico, its local implementation by health practitioners and workers, and its reception among the population. Drawing on archives in the United States, Mexico, and Switzerland, he highlights the militant Cold War rhetoric of the founders and analyzes the mixed motives of participants at all levels. Following the story through the dwindling campaign in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Cueto raises questions relevant to today’s international health campaigns against malaria, AIDS, and tuberculosis.

(2008)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Without doubt, Cold War, Deadly Fevers is an important contribution to the expanding field of international health history.

(Diego Armus Isis 2008)

This work is very important. It is the first scholarly and book-length study of malaria eradication in Latin America that shows how campaigns actually played out on the ground and how they were framed by Cold War ideologies and imperatives.

(Alexandra Stern, Center for the History of Medicine, and Medical School, University of Michigan 2007)

This history of malaria eradication in Mexico reveals that there is no magic bullet. Rather, there is a need for 'holistic, persistent, flexible approaches' to fashion popular support for prevention programs and an integrated public health perspective 'that entails overcoming the culture of survival.' This thoroughly researched and clearly written book shines a light in the gloom.

(Doody's Review Service 2008)

This is a valuable book for all public health professionals. Highly recommended.

(Choice 2008)

Cold War, Deadly Fevers is a well-crafted and complex study that offers important lessons on the history of international health and foreign aid. One of the greatest strengths of this impressive work, however, is Cueto's insight into the motivations and attitudes of the people who created the program, those who implemented it, and those who were deemed its beneficiaries.

(Jonathan D. Ablard Hispanic American Historical Review 2009)

Dr. Cueto's superbly well-informed exploration of malaria not only as a disease but as a social economic, and human problem makes his book required reading.

(Filiberto Malagón Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine 2009)

Cold Wars, Deadly Fevers is a well-crafted and complex study that offers important lessons on the history of international health and foreign aid.

(Jonathan D. Ablard Hispanic American Historical Review 2008)

Raises questions highly relevant to today's international health campaigns to eradicate malaria, AIDS, and tuberculosis... Well researched, conceptualized and executed. The work is a welcome and significant contribution to the field of the history of public health as well as a critical guide for public health practitioners who seek more beneficial global health paradigms.

(Alexandra Puerto Contra Corriente 2009)

Should be compulsory reading for public health officials.

(Thomes P. Weber British Journal for the History ofScience )

This new work is a model of its kind.

(Christopher Abel Latin American Studies )

Cueto's book is significant in that it pushes scholars in several disciplines to acknowledge the power that health and disease have in reformulating our understanding of threats during the Cold War, and, notably, in our times.

(Gabriela Soto Laveaga Review of Policy Research )

About the Author

Marcos Cueto is a professor in the department of sociomedical sciences, School of Public Health, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia in Lima. A historian with a Ph.D. from Columbia University, he has specialized in the history of public health in Latin America, with work on HIV/AIDS, malaria, the Pan American Health Organization, and the Rockefeller Foundation. He was a Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in 2004–2005.

(2008)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press; 1 edition (May 4, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0801886457
• ISBN-13: 978-0801886454
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,076,448 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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