[Technological organization of malaria control in São Paulo, Brazil, from 1930 to 1990].
Since the 1970s, when malaria had seemed at the threshold of eradication, its incidence has increased in several countries of the world. This situation posed a series of questions, and for some time malariologists and public health authorities scarcely understood what was happening. In order to better comprehend the process, the author of this article studied the frequency of malaria cases in São Paulo, Brazil, from 1930 to 1990, attempting to examine the following factors in each of the periods studied: the importance of malaria in the society, the conditions under which the disease occurred, the epidemiologic knowledge of the time, the available technical instruments, and the control strategies that were used. Through the construction of technological models based on these factors, it became clear that the occurrence of the disease, knowledge about it, and, consequently, the ways it was dealt with changed over time. In light of this research, the paper discusses current options for the control of malaria.
Barata
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Facultade de Ciencias Médicas da Santa Casa de São Paulo, Departamento de Medicina Social, Brasil.
D000818:Animals; D000852:Anopheles / Q000469:parasitology / Q000502:physiology; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D004197:Disease Reservoirs; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007303:Insect Vectors / Q000469:parasitology; D008288:Malaria / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009032:Mosquito Control / Q000639:trends*; D012922:Social Change; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014504:Urban Health