Performing national independence through medical diplomacy

Tuberculosis control and socialist internationalism in Cold War Vietnam

Dados Bibliográficos

ID8395395
AutoresMichitake Aso (0000-0003-0944-8672, University at Albany, State University of New York, autor correspondente)
Ano2024
Volume57
Fascículo2
Páginas205-220
Data de publicação2024-06-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoThe British Journal for the History of Science (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0007-0874 • E-ISSN: 1474-001X
EditoraCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0007087424000487
PMID39429122
OpenAlexW4403611952
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas2
Referências citadas16

This article explores medical diplomacy as a means of navigating distinct but related nation-building and internationalist projects during the Cold War. It examines how medical professionals from the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) utilized their expertise to bolster foreign relations and assert national independence. This article focuses on how three tuberculosis (TB) specialists – Đặng Đức Trạch, Phạm Ngọc Thạch and Phạm Khắc Quảng – adopted, adapted and circulated techniques of TB control, including a modified version of bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG) vaccine. Amidst these endeavours, these medical-doctors-cum-diplomats navigated various forms of internationalism while soliciting medical assistance. Their roles within the DRV's state apparatus were prominently showcased from the 1950s to the 1970s, particularly at international gatherings such as the conferences of Ministers of Health of the Socialist Countries (MOHOSC). Because of the political complexities inherent in socialist internationalism, these conferences provided a crucial platform for dialogue among socialist nations when other avenues were limited. Consequently, the DRV's medical experts cultivated goodwill and garnered political support, despite encountering mixed results in their TB control initiatives

Democracy · Diplomacy · Economic history · Economics · Goodwill · Independence (probability theory · Internationalism (politics · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Tuberculosis · Tuberculosis control · Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes · Law · Medicine · Public Administration · Vietnamese History and Culture Studies