[Expansion of state authority and the Special Public Health Service in Brazil, 1942-1960].
The Special Public Health Service (Servicio Especial de Salud Pública-SESP) was created in 1942 as a bilateral agency between Brazil and the United States, thanks to an agreement signed by the Brazilian Ministry of Education and Health and the Institute for Inter-American Affairs. Although it was originally conceived by the Americans as a temporary agency with the military purposes of "cleaning the Amazon" and stimulating rubber production, the SESP contributed from its beginningS to an expansion of the presence of the Brazilian state. In the context of the "Cold War" and the "discovery of underdevelopment", the SESP reoriented its goals towards the formation of a district model of healthcare, based on the construction of a horizontal and permanent network of sanitary units. Despite its international constitution and its inspiration on a American model, the health policies of the SESP in Brazil never resulted from a one-way process. On the contrary, they were the result of a process of conflict, negotiation, resistance and adaptation. The combination of American influences and local responses shaped the history of the SESP in Brazil.
Vieira de Campos
André Luiz
AL
Departamento de Historia, Universidad Federal Fluminense, Brasil. camdrepo@terra.com.br
D001938:Brazil; D035082:Federal Government / Q000266:history; D018166:Health Care Reform / Q000266:history*; D006291:Health Policy / Q000266:history; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D007391:International Cooperation / Q000266:history*; D011634:Public Health / Q000266:history*; D011635:Public Health Administration / Q000266:history*; D014481:United States