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5 “God Bless General Perón” the Politics and technologies of malaria Eradication the year 1945 will have historical importance in the fight against anopheles, since in that year one era ends and another begins.those who write the history of malaria in the future will be able to say:before 1945 and after 1945;which is the same as saying before ddt and after ddt. —Carlos Alberto Alvarado, “la lucha antimosquito en la América tropical” With these words,Carlos Alvarado,the director of Argentina’s malaria eradication program, captured the heady enthusiasm of malaria fighters in the postwar era.1 the chemical insecticide ddt,which had become widely available after the end of WorldWar ii,provided a new and qualitatively different weapon against malaria.With the “magic bullet”of ddt,at last there was the means of not simply keeping malaria under control,but of eradicating it from the countries where it was endemic. But for most people in Argentina, 1945 was a watershed year for another reason. that year, the populist army general Juan d. Perón rose to power and brought sweeping changes to national politics, economy, society, and culture. inspired in part by mussolini’s fascism , Perón’s governing ideology of justicialismo combined displays of military power, nationalist sentiment, and concern for social justice. With the able and loyal assistance of his minister of public health,ramón Carrillo, Perón’s administration made health, sanitation, and social welfare integral elements of the governing ideology.they immediately realized the long-frustrated project of centralizing national authority over public health and made a strong commitment to improving the welfare of the masses through a comprehensive hospital construction program, the establishment of a national social security system,and aggressive campaigns against infectious diseases .one of the most dramatic manifestations of this spirited new state attitude toward public health was the great campaign to eradicate malaria,launched in 1947. thanks to Perón’s expansion of public health policy, Carlos Alvarado finally had the financial resources, authority, and political backing to make significant progress against malaria. Before ddt, after ddt; before 142 / Chapter 5 Perón,after Perón:for malaria control in Argentina,1945 represented an unexpected and decisive convergence of the technological and the political. this chapter develops the theme of historical convergence to understand the rapid mobilization and success of the climactic battle against malaria in northwest Argentina.the nearly complete eradication of malaria in Argentina resulted from a combination of three factors: the effective organization of the malaria campaign that Alvarado had developed before the advent of ddt; an infusion of new technologies, especially ddt but also motor vehicles ;and, lastly, the expansive public health ideology and policy that Perón and Carrillo developed. Each of these was a necessary ingredient, but none was sufficient on its own to effect the eradication of the disease. As we have seen, during the 1930s Alvarado revitalized a moribund malaria service. he redesigned the agency’s administrative structure, relocated its headquarters to the endemic zone, trained full-time technical personnel, and continued to invest in basic and applied malaria research. foci patrol, which targeted very specific mosquito habitats, appeared to be more effective than saneamiento in reducing the burden of malaria in the northwest. yet all the while, Alvarado eagerly anticipated that a better approach would come along.this solid organizational base, devotion to original malariological research, and a flexible, pragmatic attitude about strategic innovation enabled Alvarado to make a dramatic shift in malaria control strategy. ddt, an insecticide with seemingly miraculous properties, was the key technological element that enabled such a change.yet ancillary technologies, such as motor vehicles, were also vital to the new phase of the campaign. to carry out the ddt-spraying program required an ambitious infusion of state financial resources, as well as an increase in state authority and support for public health. in a provident coincidence, ddt became universally and economically available at almost exactly the same time as Perón’s ascent to power, around the end of World War ii. the ambitious public health policy of Perón and Carrillo provided the final key component to the malaria eradication program. Perón initiated many “great campaigns” to eradicate endemic and/or infectious diseases, such as leprosy, tuberculosis, trachoma, goiter, and syphilis, but the malaria eradication campaign was the most dramatic and successful of these projects. Beyond these specific efforts, however, Perón made public health a central element...

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