In this Book

Comrades in Health: U.S. Health Internationalists, Abroad and at Home

Book
Edited by Anne-Emanuelle Birn and Theodore M. Brown
2013
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summary
Since the early twentieth century, politically engaged and socially committed U.S. health professionals have worked in solidarity with progressive movements around the world. Often with roots in social medicine, political activism, and international socialism, these doctors, nurses, and other health workers became comrades who joined forces with people struggling for social justice, equity, and the right to health.

Anne-Emanuelle Birn and Theodore M. Brown bring together a group of professionals and activists whose lives have been dedicated to health internationalism. By presenting a combination of historical accounts and first-hand reflections, this collection of essays aims to draw attention to the longstanding international activities of the American health left and the lessons they brought home. The involvement of these progressive U.S. health professionals is presented against the background of foreign and domestic policy, social movements, and global politics.

Table of Contents

Title Page, Copyright Page

pp. 1-6

Contents

pp. vii-viii

Figures

pp. ix-x

Foreword

pp. xi-xiv

Acknowledgments

pp. xv-xvi

Part I: Health Comrades in Context

pp. 1-2

Chapter 1. Introduction: Health Comrades, Abroad and at Home

pp. 3-14

Chapter 2. The Making of Health Internationalists

pp. 15-42

Part II: Generation Born in the 1870s–1910s

pp. 43-44

Chapter 3. The Perils of Unconstrained Enthusiasm: John Kingsbury, Soviet Public Health, and 1930s America

pp. 45-64

Chapter 4. American Medical Support for Spanish Democracy, 1936–­1938

pp. 65-81

Chapter 5. Medical McCarthyism and the Punishment of Internationalist Physicians in the United States

pp. 82-100

Part III: Generation Born in the 1920s–1930s

pp. 101-102

Chapter 6. Contesting Racism and Innovating Community Health Centers: Approaches on Two Continents

pp. 103-118

Chapter 7. Barefoot in China, the Bronx, and Beyond

pp. 119-133

Chapter 8. Medical Internationalism and the “Last Epidemic”

pp. 134-150

Part IV: Generation Born in the 1940s–1960s

pp. 151-152

Chapter 9. Social Medicine, at Home and Abroad

pp. 153-167

Chapter 10. Find the Best People and Support Them

pp. 168-183

Chapter 11. Cooperantes, Solidarity, and the Fight for Health in Mozambique

pp. 184-199

Chapter 12. From Harlem to Harare: Lessons in How Social Movements and Social Policy Change Health

pp. 200-218

Part V: Generation Born in the 1960s–1970s

pp. 219-220

Chapter 13. Brigadistas and Revolutionaries: Health and Social Justice in El Salvador

pp. 221-237

Chapter 14. Health and Human Rights in Latin America, and Beyond: A Lawyer’s Experience with Public Health Internationalism

pp. 238-253

Chapter 15. History, Theory, and Praxis in Pacific Islands Health

pp. 254-267

Chapter 16. Doctors for Global Health: Applying Liberation Medicine and Accompanying Communities in Their Struggles for Health and Social Justice

pp. 268-285

Chapter 17. Doctors Across Blockades: American Medical Students in Cuba

pp. 286-300

Part VI: Conclusion

pp. 301-302

Chapter 18. Across the Generations: Lessons from Health Internationalism

pp. 303-318

Notes on Contributors

pp. 319-324

Index

pp. 325-350
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